Ok, so I promise I’m only going to make one post about this and then I’ll shut up. But...I have a fascination/crush/obsession/idolization/squish (idk I know it’s at least one of those things. Feelings are confusing.) on the Tiktok Willy Wonka guy aka Duke Depp. Anyway I’m going to infodump all my facts/opinions about him because I can.
Strap Yourselves in Cause This is a Lot
Ok so, just to preface; I know he’s “The Thirst Trap Willy Wonka” but tbh I don’t really think that’s the thing that attracts me to him. It’s just he has a very interesting life and personality that my psychology-loving self is very interested in. Anyway, before we get into this I’ll give some backstory for anyone who doesn’t know who I’m talking about.
Duke, known online as Duke Depp/Duke Moose, is a 19 year old kid who does a pretty decent Johnny Depp Willy Wonka impression. He started a tiktok account as Willy Wonka on May 3rd of this year with a really low quality blond wig and sunglasses, keeping his identity secret. His content consisted mainly of him reciting lines from the movie and talking to his viewers as Willy Wonka. His account grew rapidly and once it hit 200k followers, which happened in a mere few weeks, he upgraded his costume, complete with a black wig, top hat, and custom made jacket very similar to the one Johnny Depp wore in the movie. When he hit 1M followers within another few weeks, he did the much requested face reveal and started a second account as himself, going by the name Duke Depp. As of right now willywonkatiktok has nearly 14M followers and both willywonkatiktok and dukedepp are verified. Willy Wonka has evolved into a sex symbol of sorts for the people of Tiktok and is the crush of many Gen Z’s, this is primarily the result of a shirtless “thirst trap” to the song “I Wanna Love You” by Akon posted on July 26th. While he has uploaded many more thirst traps since that one, that video currently has 103M views and is his most viewed tiktok. His account now consists of tiktok trends, dances, and interactions with other famous tiktokers.
(That really looked like a Wikipedia article or something lol) Now let’s get to what many people may not know about WillyWonkaTiktok/Duke Depp’s life. Particularly, the things I find interesting.
He is an international wedding photographer. He graduated high school 2 years early (despite not being particularly great at school) in order to become a professional international photographer at age 16! Um... how?? Anyway his photography is actually really good and you can check it out @/dukemoose on Instagram.
His name is not Duke Depp or Duke Moose. According to Willywonkatiktok’s Famous Birthdays profile (which Duke has seen and confirms the information on it is true), his real name is actually Tyson Duke Charlesworth. This fact isn’t particularly shocking but I thought it was interesting.
Willywonkatiktok, while it is Duke’s claim to fam, is actually not Duke’s first experience as an online content creator. On top of being a fairly well known photographer, he also has a podcast with his sister Kaestle (pronounced Kest-lee) (on tiktok @/kaestlecastle) that has been ongoing for over a year; “The Mode Podcast.” On this weekly podcast they talk about everything from childhood memories to tv shows to current events.
That was an overview of the parts of Duke’s life that interest me, now here are some “facts” about his personality
He is very self centered (sorry it’s true). But honestly who can blame him? He put a wig on and said a few words and suddenly he has a million followers less than 2 months. Did a few tiktok trends and danced with his shirt off and now has 14M followers in 6 months and is hanging out with Iggy Azalea. (tbh the psychology nerd part of me is so intrigued with how this is rapid fame is affecting his psyche) But the point still stands, he is a bit cocky.
He hates starbursts. The second time he tried one he literally threw up because of how bad it was.
He doesn’t like the color red.
He has a crush on Emma Chamberlain (go watch his YouTube video on that if you want more info. It’s actually pretty funny)
Which leads me to my next fact: he has a sense of humor. He is very self aware of how weird his current job is as the “hot” Willy Wonka and he has fun with it. Making fun of himself and his situation via comments and videos on his dukedepp account. He also has frequent comment “arguments” with his alter ego.
He goes through random phases where he gets obsessed with certain people and/or things (definitely can’t relate to that one pfft idk what you’re talking about).
He loves chihuahuas.
He loves reality tv.
And finally, he is, objectively...very attractive.
That’s about it for my Willy Wonka/Duke infodump. If you made it this far I’m very impressed. Have a cookie. 🍪
