If I said the names Timothée Chalamet, Paul Mescal and Jeremy Allen White, how would you react?
Considering these are three of the most popular men in pop culture right now, your ears might prick up.
But what if I said Miles Mitchell, Jack Wall O’Reilly and Ben Shabad instead? By comparison, what would those names mean to you?
To most, probably not a lot.
Yet for those who, like me, are chronically online you’ll likely already know that these men are the reigning champs of celebrity lookalike competitions.
This recent trend has taken over my TikTok for you page for the past month, and while I’m all for a bit of harmless fun, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of equality.
Out of the 15 different contests that have run since October 27, only two have centred on women.
It all began in New York when YouTuber Anthony Po taped fliers around the city announcing the Chalamet contest. And it wasn’t long before news of the event went viral.
On the day itself things were more than just a little exciting: Police ordered the crowd to disperse, one participant was even arrested, and the man himself even turned up to have a gander at the attendees who shared in his good looks.
Ultimately, it was 21-year-old Miles Mitchell – dressed as Timothée’s rendition of Wonka – that took home the $50 prize.
And ever since, these contests have taken on a life of their own.
I’ve since seen versions centered on Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Paul Mescal, Dev Patel, and the late Heath Ledger, popping up in the four corners of the world with people who share a slight resemblance to a celebrity (or own a similar coat) entering themselves into the draw.
On the whole, these events have just served to be a bit of fun. There’s not been much more on offer for the winner other than a bit of cash and, I suppose, bragging rights.
Granted, Glen Powell blessed his lookalike, Maxwell Braunstein, with the chance to have his parents or another family member cameo in his next movie, but that really is the exception.
Jack Wall O’Reilly, who won the Paul Mescal contest, for example, received just €20 for scoring the top prize – that’s no more than three pints.
But it’s not the accolades (or lack thereof) I take issue with: It’s the glaringly obvious omission of female celebrity lookalike contests.
You may be thinking, is it that serious that we haven’t seen a Margot Robbie, Kim Kardashian or Beyoncé contest pop up? Well, I would argue it is.
While there have been two attempts in the form of a Zendaya and Rachel Sennott lookalike contest, both turnouts were weak at best, but I think I know why.
You only have to look as far as Love Is Blind contestant Chelsea Blackwell, who mentioned that some people had said she looked like Megan Fox to understand why women are going to take a little more convincing to partake in this phenomenon.
When sharing that people have mentioned their likeness, Chelsea quickly added that she ‘didn’t see it’ but it wasn’t enough.
She was called big-headed, delusional, and ugly by trolls on the internet.
People were so critical, that Chelsea felt the need to issue an apology.
When the abuse continued to escalate, Megan herself spoke out in her defence. ‘I believe she’s telling the truth and I hope she still has that sparkle in her eye. I hope the world didn’t steal it from her,’ she said.
On a much smaller scale, I experienced something similar when I dressed up as Kate Middleton for an article.
Now, I was never claiming to look like her (because I don’t), instead, I was just simply emulating her fashion. Yet the comments section was filled with people brutally comparing us.
One person even savagely typed that I prove just how beautiful Kate is (implying that I was not beautiful). I laughed it off, but naturally, it did sting to have my face be discussed in a nasty manner.
Meanwhile, some of the dubious entries in these recent men’s contests have gone completely unscathed.
The absolute worst comment I’ve seen is: ‘Are the Harry Styles lookalikes in the room with us?’ Oh, a girl could dream of such a soft approach.
My point is that, while men seem to be able to have a bit of fun with this, clearly women are still valued so much by the way they look that if they dared to get their comparison wrong they could be opening themselves up to a lot of cruelty.
The pattern these contests have unwittingly uncovered is the amount of disparity in how much value is put on the importance of appearance for both sexes.
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Even outside of the lookalike world, celebrities are constantly critiqued for not living up to their own beauty standards.
Tulisa has been dragged by fans of I’m A Celebrity for not looking like she did in her twenties, despite being open about having Bell’s Palsy. And Lindsey Lohan’s face has been talked about more than her Christmas movie.
Clearly society needs to do a lot of work before women can also embrace the silly nature of these types of shenanigans.
For now, I’ll be keeping quiet about being compared to Maya Rudolph for my own sanity. Damn it, forget I said anything.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk.
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