Inside the viral trainwreck Bridgerton Ball that’s the new Willy Wonka Experience

People are fuming after paying hundreds of dollars to go to a “horrendous” Detroit Bridgerton Themed Ball. Now it’s gone viral, you can absolutely see why.

Instead of a sit-down dinner and ballroom dancing, they got raw chicken and a singular pole dancer. The decorations looked so different to the Netflix show that they were on the same level as the legendary Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience.

The event was organised by a company called Uncle N Me LLC. It was not licensed by Netflix or Shondaland in any way. The very limited website doesn’t exactly give the vibe of professional competence.

Tickets ranged from a pricey $150 (£112) to a truly extortionate $1,000 (£750), depending on what package people picked.

The ball was originally meant to happen on 25th August at Beacon Park, a green space in Detroit. Three days before the ball, it was moved to the Harmonie Club building on 22nd September instead “due to unforeseen circumstances”. People who couldn’t make the September date didn’t get refunds for their tickets.

An X user has claimed that the event organisers originally tried to host the ball at the place where she worked, but the event organisers didn’t pay all the money needed to rent it.

The X user Rachel Eaton posted a screenshot of the email she got. She spent $500 (£374) on her ticket and transport, plus more money on her dress. She couldn’t make the later September date, and hasn’t got a refund.

The actual ball lasted from 6pm until midnight (although I kind of doubt that many people stayed for six hours). This detailed ten minute long TikTok shows how disappointing the actual event was.

People’s tickets weren’t checked properly at the door. People had to queue outside in the rain for at least an hour after the event started.

Things didn’t improve once the guests finally got inside. So many people were crammed into the first floor that it was difficult to move.

The decorations were deeply disappointing. Instead of lavish chandeliers and flowers like the balls in the Bridgerton TV show, this event had a few pink wall tapestries taped up.

There was so little entertainment that people just sat at the edge of the room scrolling through their phones.

Partygoers had the opportunity to pose and take pictures by this actress dressed up as Queen Charlotte, who bears extraordinarily little resemblance to the Bridgerton character.

People were promised live music all night, but there was only one violin player to cover all three floors of the event.

The partygoers could apparently pay an extra $40 dollars (£30) to have their photo taken on these chairs. I’m not sure how many people took them up on that.

The organisers didn’t think through a way to send people their pictures, and were just AirDropping them. This was a bit of an issue of you didn’t have an iPhone.

Instead of rows of ballroom dancers, the guests were entertained by one lone pole dancer. Now, I get that Bridgerton characters spend a lot of time with their clothes of. But this dancer’s outfit wasn’t quite at the levels of opulence and excess that the guests were expecting.

People said the food ran out after an hour, the chicken was raw and the cups were reused. Gross.

The event planners didn’t think to pay enough waiting staff, so dirty plates were left lying around until guests cleared them up.

The clothing worn by staff members wasn’t exactly giving Bridgerton.

The website promised that the pinnacle of the ball would be a competition to see who would be crowned the diamond of the season, and that the winner would get a cash prize. None of this happened.

Reddit users were very frustrated with the Detroit Bridgerton Themed Ball. One Reddit user wrote: “We showed up at 6:50ish. No one asked for our tickets so we just walked in. All attendees looked absolutely decked out but there was zero direction. We essentially followed the crowd to the third floor where we saw LOCAL FREAKING VENDORS selling goods like we were at a local festival. Look I love Japanese KitKats just like the next person but not at a Bridgerton Ball. I saw a guy walk by with a sparkling beverage and say, “no alcohol”. After seeing people sitting on the floor in disappointment, my wife and I left. Luckily we met some other disappointed patrons in the elevator and went to The Candy Bar where we all had a much better time.”

Another wrote: “My family and I just left the Detroit Bridgerton Ball. It was absolutely HORRENDOUS. There was nowhere to sit. Although the venue was nice, the decor was sparse and extremely tacky. It wasn’t even Bridgerton themed! We spent $400 on tickets for a complete b*s experience! I read that the event company made hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for this event.”

The event’s organisers commented to the news station WXYZ: “We understand that not everyone had the experience they hoped for at our most recent event Sunday night at The Harmonie Club, and for that, we sincerely apologise. Our intention was to provide a magical evening, but we recognise that organisational challenges affected the enjoyment of some guests.” You think?

I think I’ll stick to watching Bridgerton at home x

Uncle N Me LLC has been contacted for comment.

Related articles recommended by this author:

• All the new Bridgerton cast members coming next season – and who isn’t returning so far
• This is what jobs the Bridgerton characters would have if they lived in the modern day
• There are loads so here’s a rundown of the sloppiest editing errors in Bridgerton season three

Image of Queen Charlotte at the Detroit Bridgerton Themed Ball is via moreofnita’s TikTok.