“Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination.”
That was what 24 contestants would be told by none other than Willy Wonka. And even though there was no Willy Wonka, there were still lots of things from the movie: the iconic golden tickets, a giant gumball machine, the chocolate river; you name it, they had it. And all of them would be staying over for a nice, long factory tour.
But this was no ordinary factory tour. Rather, to continue on their tour, they would have to compete in challenges. Win, and your tour continues. Fail, and your tour is terminated, as they put it.
But the prize, for those who were able to complete the tour successfully, would be a lifetime’s supply of money: three million dollars, paid out over three decades. For the contestants, this would be a life-changing amount of money.
One of the best parts of the show was the set design: breathtaking. The set designers did an amazing job of immersing competitors and viewers alike into the world of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, and it was clear just how passionate they were about getting things, even the minute details, right.
Another detail that I found to be quite interesting was who they cast to play the Oompa Loompas on this show.
One of the main performers, Rusty Goffe, was quite a prominent part of the story, guiding contestants from the house to various challenges across the set. This was his final acting role before he takes a well-deserved retirement, making his first and his last acting roles related to the world of Willy Wonka.
They also did an amazing job with casting all the Oompa Loompas, making sure that people of all body types were able to feel seen and represented on the show.
However, something that they did not do as well with was the usage of artificial intelligence to recreate Gene Wilder’s voice. Even though Netflix received permission from Wilder’s estate, Willy Wonka is still one of the most important parts of the story, and using AI to get him to host a reality TV show isn’t necessarily the best idea.
There were multiple other celebrity hosts, such as Howie Mandel, Nick Cannon, and William Brady that were used. Any of the three celebrity hosts that they had on the show would be a much better alternative to using AI just so that they could say that Gene Wilder “hosted” the show.
On a more positive note, the competitions were quite interesting, even though they were a bit outlandish. It still served the show well, because Willy Wonka’s factory is meant to be fantastical and magical, even though the competitions led to a lot of tears because of tour terminations (aka contestants getting eliminated from the show).
Overall, while the overall concept and competition design of the show is enjoyable, it was hard to connect to many of the contestants, and the ones who were relatable weren’t that great in terms of their actions on the show.
While this show had significant issues that are hard to overlook, including the usage of AI for their show’s invisible host, the show was quite charming and served as a good show to watch when you want something fun without having to think too much about it.
