The organizer of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Experience is detailing his side of the bitter story. 

Billy Coull, director of the House of Illuminati organization that put on the Willy Wonka-inspired event in Glasgow, Scotland, last month claims he’s received “hundreds and hundreds” of hate messages following the disaster. 

“My life is ruined,” he explained in the Channel 5 special Wonka: The Scandal That Rocked Britain on March 16. “I have lost my friends. I’ve lost the love of my life. I was made out to be the face of all evil. And genuinely, that’s really not the case.”

Billy went on to describe the mishaps—including booking too large a venue and projection equipment that was never delivered—that led to the event’s failure. 

“I was gutted,” he continued. “But I believed that we could push on.”

And Billy, who described the way he reacted to the event’s early shutdown—during which he snapped at upset customers—as the “worst versions” of himself. He added, “The last thing I wanted to see was children to be upset.”