A Bridgerton-themed ball gone awry is the new Willy Wonka experience
Fans eagerly awaited the famous masquerade ball, where Benedict meets his true love, Sophie, in the upcoming fourth season of Bridgerton. A group of them even flocked to Detroit over the weekend to attend the event, which was billed as a chance for viewers to “enter the enchanting world of the Regency era… for an evening of sophistication, grace, and historical glamour.”
But when it came to Sunday’s event, which had been rescheduled three days earlier, one attendee recalled thinking, “We’re not watching the same Bridgerton show. Like, there’s no way you’re watching the same Colin, Anthony, and everyone else that I am.”
In her now-viral TikTok, a user named Nita painted a chaotic picture of a Bridgerton-themed party, loudly claiming that costumed attendees sat on the floor, ate uncooked food served by staff in tracksuit tops, and watched a stripper perform on a pole as part of the evening’s entertainment. Stay away, Fyre Festival and Glasgow’s Willy Wonka Experience: There’s a new event in town.
While local news outlet WBCK noted that Netflix hosted a traveling event called the Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience, the experience was clearly not affiliated with or authorized by the streaming service. Instead, it was organizer Uncle N Me LLC that staged the ill-fated ball, charging screenings between $150 and $1,000 for admission, according to The Hollywood Reporter—though some said they weren’t even asked to show their tickets at the door.
“The way the event was described was that it was going to be an evening of Bridgerton. We were going to have classical music, a nice dinner. There was going to be a play and they were going to pick the diamond of the season,” experience attendee Amanda Sue Mathis told local ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV. “They were going to give away all these prizes—and we walked in and it was completely empty. There was nothing going on. They had a pole in the middle of the dance floor. A stripper pole in the middle of the dance floor.”
Ayrton Hamrick told the affiliate that he and his girlfriend attended the experience to celebrate her birthday, even purchasing the “Duke and Duchess” package for $250, which included professional dance passes, professional photos, valet parking, dinner, music and entertainment. entertainment. “In addition to the boring event, they promised a cash prize for best dressed (which did not happen), that they would pick a diamond of the season like they do in other Bridgerton-inspired shows/balls (which did not happen), and had an itinerary with conflicting information,” another ticketholder wrote on X. Event organizer Uncle N Me LLC issued this statement to WXYZ on Tuesday: “We understand that not everyone had the experience they expected at our most recent event on Sunday night at Harmonie Club, and for that, we sincerely apologize. Our intention was to provide a magical evening, but we recognize that organizational challenges impacted the enjoyment of some guests. We take full responsibility for these dangers.” Please know that we are working hard to address any concerns to ensure that all guests have the fun experience they deserve.… We are committed to doing everything in our power to get this right.”
Nita, who also criticized the event’s “Party City”-themed photo backdrop and the actor cast as the event’s monarch—“No disrespect to the queen, but I literally didn’t even get to bow before she tried to tell me to take her business card”—ended her nearly 10-minute TikTok with a warning: “I can’t stress enough that this is a scam,” she said. “Don’t go to one of their other events, especially if they call it the Bridgerton ball.”
