Are Celeb Lookalike Contests The Return Of OG Fan Club Culture?

Imagine trying to explain celebrity fan culture to a pilgrim. They’d be like, “Uhhh, sorry, what is a photograph?” And yet, the colonists (booooo) kinda established their own local celebrities, if you count the women who were declared evil witches by the church because they weren’t feeling chipper that harvest. Historians credit the poet Lord Byron and my girl Jane Austen as the authors of the very first fan subcultures, but the first true mega-celebrity fandom, akin to the standoms we know today, belonged to the one, the only, The King, Elvis Presley.

Unlike the Golden Age movie stars and starlets before him, Elvis had young girls frothing at the mouth around the globe for a hunk of his burning love long before One Direction had pre-teens chasing them through public parks. Tailgating for Elvis normalized the undying in-person adoration that crowned Michael Jackson the King of Pop. By the time TLC released their 1999 album FanMail, it was the norm for teens to clock in after school to religiously write to their fave like it was their full-time job.

The written declarations of love and mass meet-ups extended beyond tracking down musicians on tour. The most popular TV shows of the day drew fan mail for the stars, whether they were Baywatch babes or X-Files nerds. But as fan gifts got weird and weirder (nothing will top Dolly Parton finding a baby on her doorstep) and the internet became everyone’s best friend in the mid-2000s, the relationship between celebs and fans was downgraded to a digital devotion.

Now, 100 years after Clara Bow was donned the It Girl by her loyal following (including Al Capone), being a true follower has become a mostly insulated experience. Outside of a handful of semi-toxic standoms, we’ve all been stuck thirsting over our virtual lovers from chronically online corners of the planet. That is until celebrity lookalike contests have become a global phenomenon.

Why are celebrity lookalike contests trending?

Image Credit: Getty Images

The short answer? People love hot people and having fun, both of which there is far too little of lately. As a resident pop culture freak, I know we are an insatiable group, starved for entertainment, and with the level of overstimulation happening online these days, the Twitter memes are simply not enough. Fans are hungry for a space to freely geek out over their precious without judgment from snarky haters or being interrupted by the latest world-ending tragedy we’re supposed to just live with. While there are a million IJBOL-worthy celebrity interview shows and glossy profiles out there to devour, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of community you get from collectively applauding a hot, rich person we don’t all hate (which is why getting concert tickets is now an Olympic sport). This cross-generational return to the silly, shameless, superficial slobbering that once made shipping celebs great is perfect since it doesn’t subject the celeb to ridiculous ogling.

I, for one, am into this trend, especially since it has wisely focused on the boys. (With centuries of men being men, you can’t tell me a Margot Robbie impersonator contest wouldn’t go so smoothly.) These lookalikes facing off for facial recognition have basically triggered an international males-only debutante ball, which harkens back to the camp that made Elvis impersonators a major thing. That these young lads are willing to parade themselves for validation that they vaguely resemble a hometown hero version of an Oscar nominee is equal parts charming and delusional (the quintessential elements of the celeb recipe).

Ranking the celebrity lookalike contest results: who was the best celebrity lookalike?

If you’re asking me who I think is the hottest, I can only reply Dev Patel wannabe Jaipreet Hundal because if I say anything else, I will be fined. I thank the city of San Franciso for their service, though I think he’s probably not the most undetectable dupe. Dublin’s Jack Wall O’Reilly was the most accurate selection, shockingly favored Paul Mescal, though the Harry Styles winner, Oscar, was a close second. The crowd choice for Timmy’s stunt double, on the other hand, wasn’t even close IMO. I expected more from you, New York.