Michigan fans of the Netflix show “Bridgerton” are up in arms after what was marketed as a “ball” in Detroit served them what they say was raw chicken and featured very lackluster and last-minute decorations and entertainment.
Videos shared online from the event show attendees sitting on the floor in a sparsely-decorated venue and a scantily-clad exotic dancer performing amid women in Regency-era attire.
“Like, what are we doing here, are we watching the same ‘Bridgerton?’ I am so confused,” one woman, Nita Morton, who attended the event said in a viral TikTok documenting her experience. “Is this really giving ‘ball,’ let alone ‘Bridgerton?’”
The ball was not actually affiliated with Netflix, though the online streamer does hold events called “The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience.”
In an interview with TODAY.com, Morton says she first learned of the event from social media and spent $167 total on her ticket — which was about $40 more than the base price — for certain add-ons like access to more photo areas, food and valet parking.
The ball, was thrown by a local company called Uncle N Me LLC, which did not respond to TODAY.com’s multiple requests for comment and as of Sept. 25, the website for the event was defunct.
However, Uncle N Me provided a statement to local ABC 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 apologize. Our intention was to provide a magical evening, but we recognize that organizational challenges affected the enjoyment of some guests. We take full responsibility and accountability for these shortcomings. Please know that we are working diligently to address all concerns to ensure that all guests have the enjoyable experience they deserve … we are committed to doing everything in our power to make this right.”
Morton, the Tiktoker, says that when she first arrived at the venue, there was very little security and no one was checking bags or tickets at the door.
“I’m already looking thinking, ‘Hmm, something is looking real suspicious,’” she says, adding that once inside, the venue was very crowded and disorganized.
When she went to get food — which was included in the price of her ticket — she says she couldn’t believe what she saw.
“People were pulling apart their chicken and it was raw in the middle,” she says, noting that others behind her weren’t able to get any food as the caterer seemingly ran out. “Some of the plates, it looked like picked around by a kid — most people saw the food and left.”
Another “Bridgerton” fan, Kimberly Pineda, tells TODAY.com she had a similar experience. After seeing the long line for food, she asked another table of people if it was worth the wait
“I was like, ‘Hey, is this food actually worth waiting in line?’ They were like, ‘Absolutely not. I don’t know what I just ate,’” she says. “I also heard many people say that their chicken was raw, and that their greens on the plate tasted fishy.”
Pineda says she and her husband decided “not to risk it” on the food.
Morton says she stayed, determined to have a good time regardless of the food. But the decor, she says, seemed to have been thrown together last minute. As she walked through the three-story venue, she says, she observed “all this very mediocre décor,” like photo backdrops that hadn’t been steamed to hang flat.
“Honestly, I’ve seen baby showers look better than this decor,” she says, exasperated. “What lacked so much to me with this event was the effort. It just doesn’t look like the effort was there at all.”
There were vendors within the event as well, which Morton says didn’t make sense to her, as they didn’t really fit with the theme and guests had already paid to get inside.
Morton says the event planners had also promoted that there would be live music but instead, there were multiple floors with “light-up speakers” and a “single, lone violinist.” TODAY.com has not viewed the original promotions for the event. Pineda says she had believed there would be “musical performances and then (a) performance period.”
Instead, the ball guests were surprised when the final live performer arrived: an exotic dancer, who performed on a pole in the middle of the event.
“I’m expecting like, this grand dance performance … you know what I mean, something nice?” Pineda says. “This female comes out, and it was basically a G-string and a bra… and she just starts pole dancing right in the middle of a supposed ‘Bridgerton’ experience event.”
“It was just inappropriate,” Morton says, noting she believed there were young, underage people at the event. She says the dancer told her that she had been hired that day and the event organizers had picked out her outfit and type of performance — despite the fact she is trained in the aerial arts.
Morton concluded that she and her sister were left feeling “disappointed” and “disrespected” by the experience.
