Why There's Always A Look Alike Contest Coming To A City Near You
So, here’s the breakdown – what is going on with the celebrity lookalikes?
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Pop culture reached its peak on October 27, when the Timotheé Chalamet lookalike contest took Washington Square Park by storm. The Oscar nominated actor, to the shock and awe of onlookers, did the funniest thing possible, and actually showed up to meet his long-lost dopplegänger.
Amid the kerfuffle, a Timmy-on-the-run was arrested for his attendance at the “unscheduled event”, and later Chalemet offered to pay the contest organizer Anthony Po’s $500 fine. Since the look-alike contest heard around the world, copycats continue to pop up across the country, beginning with a series of quests for the lookalikes of the entertainment industry’s coveted white boys of the month.
There was a parade of curly-haired, dimpled Londoners aspiring for the coveted Harry Styles title, while New York City’s Bushwick neighborhood in the great borough of Brooklyn saw an abundance of Styles’ bandmate, Zayn Malik, and Los Angeles hunted for the dopplegängers of Luca Guadagnino’s hit film Challengers. Irishmen donned their rugby shorts for a shot at the Paul Mescal title in Dublin, the line cooks of Chicago took their shot at Jeremy Allen White’s character in The Bear, and men eagerly lined up for the Dev Patel crown in San Francisco.
Each contest sparks viral social media content more than the next, and inspires more look-alikes to host contests in their own locales. Just this week, I spotted a poster advertising a lookalike contest for a mysterious diva named Ian, offering a cash prize of $50 to Los Angeles east-siders lucky enough to resemble him.
The steady stream of lookalike contests towards the end of the year begs the question why they are happening at all. Why is it on trend to host these contests, and why the extra fascination with celebrity lookalikes as of late?
Everybody would love to look like a beloved celebrity, so this aspect of the phenomenon is nothing new. What lookalike-gate is really about is finding a sense of community that many have lacked in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. Once stay-at-home orders were lifted, remote work remained, and several classes of students graduated into a strange landscape after years of social distancing and isolation.
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The look alike contests are bringing locals out to their local parks, pushing them to make new friends and maybe even meet eligible suitors. The majority of these contests have thus far centered on young men, a troubled demographic at the forefront of the cultural conversation right now. In the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election, many are igniting discussions about the negative impacts of the radicalization of young men online.
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The look alike contests offer a much needed dose of healthy masculinity. As one content creator named Nia (@bittnia) pointed out, it gives women the opportunity to giggle about their celebrity crushes like their middle school selves all in the form of harmless fun. The contests are essentially male beauty pageants, offering a fresh take on a form of entertainment and competition that famously puts women under a microscope, and allows for the competitors to subvert the expectations of this type of event.
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Outside of the bizarre playfulness of the trend also lie a number of opportunities to connect. While Chalamet remains the only celebrity to make an appearance at his own contest thus far, Glen Powell’s mother judged his lookalike contest in his home state of Texas. In a now viral video, Powell called in to congratulate the lucky Twisters-core cowboy, and even invited him to cameo in one of his upcoming projects.
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Moments like these are reminders of the importance of community and the concept of “third spaces.” A third space refers to a social gathering place separate from the home and the workplace and/or school, according to the University of Chicago. As students, many of these third spaces are found in sports, theater, or other extracurricular activities. As adults lost to the daily drum of the workforce, these spaces become far and few between, carving the perfect quirky niche for the lookalike contests.
After a grueling year of a tough job market, a highly controversial 2024 presidential race, and more, it seems that everyone needed to reconnect with their whimsical side this Autumn, even if just for a pack of cigarettes, a $50 check, or being crowned as their favorite star’s lookalike.