Celebrity look-alike contests are currently taking the Internet by storm. What started as a search for Timothée Chalamet’s double has now spiraled into a marathon of fans trying to find doppelgangers of their favorite famous people like Harry Styles, Paul Mescal, Jeremy Allen White, and Dev Patel. It seems that the public is seeking something lighter amidst pretty heavy events these days, such as the election results and ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
To distract us from the world for a moment, Bored Panda is jumping into the fun too, and featuring some of the most uncanny doppelgangers ordinary people have unexpectedly run into. Scroll down to find them, and we’ll let you decide whether these instances are glitches in the matrix or something entirely different.
#1 The French Gentleman Spawn Is Broken
Image credits: Naivara_Liandon
#2 My Friend The Emperor Hadrian
Image credits: menchon
#3 I Can Only Hope To Be Painted So Someone In The Future Can Do This As Well
Image credits: rofloflo
Communications professor specializing in celebrity and audience culture Erin Meyers speculated more about why the look-alike contests are so popular at the moment.
“They’re not a protest. They’re not an election rally,” she explains to NPR. “They’re not things that have been kind of contentious lately. They’re around something that’s a little more fun and they’re very grassroots.”
#4 Face To Face With Yourself In A Museum, The Doppelgänger Experience
Image credits: imgur.com
#5 Yes Dani, Tell Us How
Image credits: DanielleKGrier
#6 Whoever Understood The Impact Of This Photo, Understood Everything
Image credits: gabicoelho
In more recent years, people have been embracing a more individualistic approach to living, and communal events seem to be withering away. Those who long for fellowship might see the look-alike contest as a great way to spend time with their community or even meet potential romantic partners.
In addition, such a gathering was organized organically, without being weighed down by promoters or sponsors. Instead of being corporate and formal, it felt spontaneous and goofy. The switch-up probably felt quite freeing and enjoyable for the attendees.
#7 I Have Worked Here For 2 Years. I Have Only Seen Them Individually. Had A Major What The S**t Moment Today When I Realized It Was Two Different People
Image credits: ohdanyella91
#8 My Japanese Friend Found A Game About Himself In A Shop In The Netherlands
Image credits: Akihabarakatta
#9 I Found A Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: reddit.com
Another interesting fact about this event is that the participants are mainly male. “Why would that be strange?” you might ask. Well, it’s relatively rare for men to want to look a certain way and get validation for it so publicly, which has been a norm for women for a long time, says Meyers. “The history of media representation is all about giving these standards for women, in particular, to live up to,” she says. “You’re already trying to look like Kim Kardashian or look like whoever and emulate them in your social media posts. It doesn’t feel as novel, I guess.”
#10 I Found My Doppelganger At Work
Image credits: GlasgowComa
#11 10 Years Ago I Went Off To College And People I Didn’t Know Kept Coming Up To Me And Calling Me “Brian”. My Name Is Josh. Then A Few Weeks Later I Met Brian And We Took This Picture Together
Image credits: pnw_smalls
#12 I Wasn’t Convinced Until Now…. We Are Definitely In A Simulation. Today I Randomly Swam Past My Doppelseäner At The Flamingo Pool In Vegas
Image credits: Seandouglasmcardle
Behind the silly fun of look-alikes, there are actually some fascinating scientific explanations for why complete strangers might be doubles of each other. Research suggests that Chalamet doppelgangers have genetic similarities even though they aren’t biologically related.
#13 My Friend Got On The Train And The Same Woman Sat Down, 4 Times
Image credits: toddffw
#14 Met My Doppelganger At Ef!
Image credits: Djbdjdei
#15 Einstein’s Doppelganger Found In A Random Supermarket, Egypt
Image credits: SaifTaherIsGr8Again
Manel Esteller, a molecular geneticist, in a study published in 2022 revealed that unrelated look-alikes share distinct parts of their genetic makeup that are responsible for bone structure, skin pigmentation, and water retention, all of which affect how our face looks.
#16 Friend Looks Exactly Like The Painting At A Bar
Image credits: reddit.com
#17 Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: Handicapreader
#18 The Guy Is Playing For Both Teams, And Still Watching It From The Grandstand
Image credits: flygon223
The researchers ensured that the subjects weren’t related and that any similarities in their looks were coincidental. “There are so many people in the world right now, that eventually, people that share a higher number of [genetic] variants are expected,” he said, explaining the reason for it. As he pointed out, there are only so many combinations that make up a human face.
#19 Vincent Van Stay
Image credits: gene100001
#20 I Found This Random Painting In A Thrift Store That Looks Unsettling Similar To Me
Image credits: p1zzaforbreakfast
#21 Spotted A Glitch In The Matrix Today
Image credits: mint_tea_logo
Scientist Nancy Segal, a professor of psychology, has additionally found that doppelgangers might not only share similar appearance but other attributes as well, like the manner of walking (due to their bone length), their voice, and even their level of addictiveness. So for example, a Harry Styles look-alike may walk, sound the same, and smoke cigarettes but won’t have the same personality, charisma, and talent as him.
#22 Found My Slimmer Alterego On The Bus Stop Commercial
Image credits: Atesz222
#23 When You Go To Get A Flu Shot And The Pharmacist Is Your Doppelgänger
Image credits: Garthanthoclops
#24 Awkward
Image credits: tr_morrison
I bet now you’re wondering if there is a person who looks, walks, and sounds like you somewhere out there. Well, scientists think that it’s very likely, but the precise number of that being true is difficult to calculate with statistical quirks and subjectivity getting in the way. Despite this, there’s still a pretty good chance we all have a doppelganger. “I think most people have somebody who is a facial lookalike unless they have a truly exceptional and unusual face,” concludes statistician Nick Fieller from The Computer-Aided Facial Recognition Project.
#25 I Met My Doppelgänger Today!
Image credits: littletucks
#26 Three Girls In The Same Row, Wearing The Same Color Sweater, With The Same Color Hair
Image credits: reddit.com
#27 Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: Optomistik
#28 Leaked Photo Of The Rarest Planet Sequencing Event
Image credits: Enguzelharf
#29 My Girlfriend Met Her Doppelganger
Image credits: titoblah
#30 I Think I Found A Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: WhippleGT
#31 These Two People Had Such A Similar Look It Was Uncanny
Image credits: Jatacid
#32 Tenet (Christopher Nolan, 2020)
Image credits: reddit.com
#33 She Is Nowhere Near As Thrilled As Her Father
Image credits: ellomelissa
#34 My Mom Had A Nanny That Was A Mrs. Doubtfire Lookalike, C. 1981
Image credits: JankCranky
#35 My Friend Found Himself In A Bag Of Chips
Image credits: 10KBananas
#36 I’m Visiting The USA For The First Time: There Was A Glitch In The Matrix Yesterday As I Stood In Line At The Met, NY. [oc]
Image credits: salmeida
#37 These Three Random Men In My Photo Look Like The Same Person
Image credits: thrashbandit
#38 There’s A Glitch In The Matrix!
Image credits: candyman_forever
#39 Bumped Into My Doppelganger At Subic Bay. My Dad, Cousins And Brother Accidentally Mistook Her For Me, So My Aunty Asked Her If We Could Take A Photo Together
Image credits: yuhuan.yeap
#40 Little Brother Went To Get His Vaccine, Ran Into Himself From The Future
Image credits: whatthehellhappensto
#41 Pretty Sure I Saw Robin Williams Identical Twin While On Vacation In Germany
Image credits: Ballistic_Pineapple
#42 My Family Friend Is A Persian Replica Of Jeff Goldblum… They Finally Met
Image credits: arsf1357
#43 So It Turns Out I Have A Twin In Israel. Either That Or There’s A Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: danielbergman99
#44 The Adoration Of The Magi
Image credits: psoykorolenko
#45 In The Flesh
Image credits: Z3F
#46 Noticed A Peculiar Resemblance In My Friend’s Nativity Scene Today… I Present You, The Fresh Prince Of Bethlehem
Image credits: Philltron
#47 I Found My Sister’s Doppelgänger At The Coldplay Concert In Gothenburg
Image credits: elvegu
#48 “White Guy Problems” Strikes Back
Image credits: northparkdanger
#49 I Think There Is A Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: StartSelect
#50 I Am On The Train And Those Two Ladies Look The Same But They Don’t Know Each Other At All… Freaky
Image credits: tinybeano
#51 My Husband Ken Found A Mini Plastic Version Of Himself At Homegoods
Image credits: mizzroberts
#52 Still Wondering Whether He Did This On Purpose Or Not
Image credits: HogNutsJohnson
#53 Found A Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: alicrosswell
#54 Two Stranger Twins Met At A Hockey Game, And The Third One Found Their Picture Online
Image credits: Matthews84
#55 My Godson Think He’s The Royal Prince
Image credits: TheGGongShow
#56 Found My Dopplegänger From Half A Century Ago In An Art Museum In Zurich
Image credits: _Melbourneer_
#57 Each Booth Is An Alternate Reality
Image credits: cameronmross
#58 My BF (Left) Met His Doppelganger At IKEA Last Night
Image credits: reddit.com
#59 My Buddy Was Wearing The Same Shirt As A Woman At The Bar. She Left And Was Replaced About An Hour Later By Another Man Wearing The Same Shirt
Image credits: fightinforphilly
#60 Met My Doppelgänger (Right) At A Concert. Even Had On The Same Shoes
Image credits: reddit.com
#61 My Uber Driver Was A Slimmer, Cooler, Mustached Version Of Myself
Image credits: fuzzysalad
#62 Donna Trump
Image credits: Spookyturds
#63 Found My Doppelganger In Poland, Unfortunately It Was On A “Willy Brush”
Image credits: geodudeisarockstar
#64 I Think I Entered The Twilight Zone At Tim Hortons
Image credits: Method__Man
#65 My Parents (On Left) Matching With Strangers From Their Cruise
Image credits: RaRaRitty
#66 Friend Discovered His Doppleganger At The Airport Today. Neither Were Pleased
Image credits: apollodeen
#67 A Glitch In The Matrix
Image credits: GummyyBear
#68 Time Travel At Costco
Image credits: IWasANerdBeforeItWasCool
#69 Iron Deficiency Man
Image credits: Phailthy
