‘Wonka’s The Golden Ticket’ review: enter a world of pure humiliation

It makes sense to turn Charlie And The Chocolate Factory into a reality TV show. After all, it’s a beloved piece of IP that’s recognised the world over and the whole premise of the book hinges on a competition format. The stuff writes itself. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to be any good. READ MORE: The best TV shows of 2026… so far! Wonka’s The Golden Ticket, Netflix’s latest reality TV show, is very, very loosely adapted from the 1971 musical Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory which was based on Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. This bingeable series takes 24 Americans and puts them in a real-life recreation of the magical chocolate factory we all know and love. Some serious money has been thrown at it, too. The set is littered with gadgets and features a faithful recreation of the famous main room, complete with edible blades of grass and a ‘chocolate’ river. At stake is enough money to pay the winner a six-figure salary for the next 30 years (or around $3million). To claim it, the contestants have to undergo a series of challenges and survive being eliminated. With that much cash involved, things predictably turn nast...