More than 50 people took part in an unusual competition Saturday at Humboldt Park, vying to be named the best Jeremy Allen White lookalike and taking away a prize of $50 and a pack of Marlboro Red cigarettes for best resembling the star of TV’s “The Bear.”
Most of them were white men, like the actor who portrays chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto on the show, which is based in Chicago and prominently shows off the city and its restaurants.
But there also were women and people of different ethnicities and even a toddler trying to prove they look most like the character known as Bear.
Hundreds of people cheered on the contestants.
The winner: Ben Shabad, 37, a mental health therapist from Glenview.
“I’m so happy,” said Shabad, who was given a crown and hoisted into the air in the middle of the crowd. “This is the coolest thing I’ve done all week.”
Organized by Albany Park roommates Kelsey Cassaro and Taylor Vaske, the contest follows other recent celebrity lookalike competitions, including Harry Styles and Dev Patel contests in London and San Francisco. In October, actor Timothée Chalamet crashed his doppelganger contest in Manhattan.
Cassaro and Vaske originally planned the Chicago contest as a joke, posting a flyer on social media and along North Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square. But, as interest grew online, they decided to actually make it happen.
They said they didn’t expect as many people to turn out.
Among them were Josephine Krieger and Alexis Kline of Roscoe Village, both big fans of White.
“He’s like a Roman god to me,” Kline said.
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