November 17, 2024
The search for Jeremy Allen White's perfect doppelganger in Chicago is over.
The competition for the actor's lookalike ended on Saturday as the winner was announced among dozens of contestants.
About hundreds of people gathered at Humboldt Park on the city's West Side to attend the competition, per ABC 7 Chicago.
The prize offered to the best doppelgänger was "$50 cash and some cigarettes," according to a poster that went viral on X.
Photos of the contestants gathered at the event also emerged online—all of them sporting an apron over a white t-shirt while a cigarette dangled from their lips à la chef Carmy Berzatto in the TV series The Bear, which takes place in Chicago.Ben Shabad, a 37-year-old mental health therapist from Glenview, Illinois, won the competition.
"This is the coolest thing I’ve done all week," he said, donning a crown upon his victory. Shabad also received a blue ribbon with a picture of Carmy and a trophy.
After his win, other contestants lifted him into the air to celebrate, per videos shared online.
"I felt pretty confident," Shabad added, per ABC 7 Chicago. "People have been telling me I look like [White] for a long time. I don't know if it's changed my life, but it's changed my Saturday."
Albany Park roommates Kelsey Cassaro and Taylor Vaske planned the lookalike contest as a joke, the outlet reported. However, they decided to stick by it when the contest flier went viral.