Sydneysiders attending a party to share their love of a hit TV show have been left less than impressed.
Fans of the hit TV show Off Campus, based on a popular book, flocked to a theme night at a club in Sydney last weekend.
The party was hosted by Superficial Party at Home The Venue on Cockle Bay Wharf, with fans paying $25 a ticket in hopes they could skate away into the ultimate fangirl experience.
Superficial Party is known for hosting events inspired by pop culture fandoms, including Taylor Swift and One Direction.
The Amazon Prime show has gained cult status worldwide, following ice hockey player Garrett Graham’s romance with fellow student Hannah Wells.
Attendee Ashleigh Williams, 31, says the event served up a performance worthy of a penalty.
“I was genuinely so excited for this event. As someone who loves Off Campus, I couldn’t think of anything better than being in a room full of girls screaming songs from the soundtrack,” Ms Williams told news.com.au.
She was excited to hear hits that appear in the series such as ‘Cherry Pie’ by Warrant and ‘The B***h is Back’ by Elton John.
“Instead, we walked in, and there was one cardboard cutout of Garrett Graham in a corner. That was the venue-wide extent of any indication that this event was for Off Campus,” she revealed.
She thought decor around the venue was “so odd” leaving her to feel uninspired.
“When you have so many opportunities to do sports or college banners, sporting team signs… why would you choose to do nothing?” she questioned.
Ms Williams noted that a screen which was meant to play snippets of the show instead had the organiser’s logo on it, and when it eventually did play, clips kept freezing.
She says the biggest let down was the DJ, with the music coming to a complete halt for 10 minutes for an unknown reason, leaving attendees to chant “music” until play was hit again.
“We got songs like Dua Lipa, Pitbull and Britney Spears that had absolutely nothing to do with Off Campus. Then they started repeating those songs,” she recounted.
“By the second time I’d heard ‘Womanizer’ in two hours, I’d had enough.”
She decided to ask staff why the event was lacking so many notable nods to the series.
“They finally did play a couple of songs from the show three hours in after enough people complained; everyone absolutely lit up at this bare minimum effort because we had nothing else to be excited about,” she reported.
“Then they played those three songs, three times back to back. I left at that point and couldn’t stand it anymore.”
She says her expectations weren’t wildly unreasonable, given the cost of the ticket, but she had anticipated more.
Since complaining to the organisers, Ms Williams says she has been given a full refund for her ticket.
“There isn’t an email address or phone number to contact them, so social media was really the only option people had,” she said.
“They advised this week via DM that they would refund due to ‘technical issues’ and ‘miscommunication’, however only if patrons requested it.”
She believed that she wasn’t alone in her frustrations.
“I knew I couldn’t have been the only one feeling that way. You could hear people complaining all around the venue throughout the night,” she said.
“Never made a TikTok in my life, but I was so angry about what a waste of everyone’s time and money that just was, I decided to.”
The comment section of her video was quick to fill up with other displeased Off Campus fans who had attended the event.
“Girl, me and my friends went and we left early we were so disappointed,” commented a user.
“I’m so happy someone said this! I was convinced the first hour was just an ‘intro’ and the actual party would start later with music from the show and all – did NOT expect to be watching edits in silence,” another wrote.
A third added: “Agreed! It’s just ridiculous how unorganised it was and like only three Off Campus songs and how many technical issues there were.”
Ms Williams hopes that feedback might make future parties more of a success.
“Hopefully this makes organisers realise that if you’re going to advertise a themed event, people expect the theme to actually be there. I don’t think asking for the bare minimum is too much,” she said.
Superficial Parties and Home The Venue have not responded to news.com.au’s request for comment.
Read related topics:Sydney