The Unknown (Willy Wonka Experience Character)

About

The Unknown refers to a character that appeared from behind a mirror at the failed Willy Wonka Experience event in Glasgow, Scotland that went viral online along with other memes about the event in February 2024. The character, an evil chocolate maker who craves the "Anti-Graffiti Gobstopper," was created by AI used to generate a script for the event.

Origin

On February 24th, 2024, the Willy Wonka Experience event took place in Glasgow, failing to live up to attendees expectations due to false advertisements and a low overall quality of production.^[1]

One part of the failed attraction involved a character known as The Unknown, an evil chocolate maker in a black robe and a silver mask, who emerged from behind a mirror and scared the attending children, with Willy Wonka introducing the character. On February 27th, X^[2] user @bene25_ posted a clip of The Unknown emerging from behind the mirror, which received over 23 million views, 11,000 reposts and 92,000 likes on X / Twitter in two days.

This Willy Wonka story is incredible. What's going on here? What part of the film was this hahahahaha. pic.twitter.com/A66AxwYVhN

— Ben (@bene25_) February 28, 2024

What is that? It's The Unknown!

Spread

The footage of the character inspired viral reactions, memes and fan art on social media, similar to memes about the Oompa-Loompa Bartender. On February 28th, 2024, X^[3] user @dvd_brwn posted a video caption meme that imagined people's reactions to the character, which garnered over 1.3 million views, 2,000 reposts and 42,000 likes in one day (shown below).

the children at the Glasgow Willy Wonka experience drinking their quarter can of limeade after seeing The Unknown come out from behind the mirror pic.twitter.com/WjZwThJkmu

— david (@dvd_brwn) February 28, 2024

On February 28th, X^[4] user @EveBelleSongs posted made a post combining the meme with ""Where's Kate Middleton? conspiracy theories, garnering over 5,000 reposts and 93,000 likes in one day (shown below, left). Later that day, X^[5] user @knmccc posted a meme that received over 4,800 reposts and 91,000 likes in one day (shown below, right).

The character maintained viral popularity alongside other memes about the event through late February 2024.

Various Examples

Cheryl meets ‘The Unknown’ from the Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow pic.twitter.com/uKqNXVl6Sa

— Jake McBain (@JakeMC_) February 28, 2024

Search Interest

External References