Celebrity

Timothée Chalamet crashed his own lookalike contest and the memes wrote themselves

Actor Timothee Chalamet attends the "Dune: Part Two" Seoul Premiere in Seoul, South Korea.

Timothée Chalamet paid a quick visit to the lookalike contest. (Han Myung-Gu/Getty)

Hundreds gathered at Manhattan’s Washington Square Park for the Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest this weekend, only for none other than the man himself to arrive.

The contest had been advertised around New York City, promising a $50 cash prize for the person who looked most like the American-French actor, whose breakthrough arrived with Luca Guadagnino‘s gay coming-of-age drama Call Me By Your Name.

YouTuber Anthony Po, the event organiser, said he had received thousands of RSVPs to an online invite to celebrate Chalamet, who has since starred in Dune and Wonka.

The actor remains booked and busy – he’s in the soon-to-be-released Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown and is currently shooting the ping-pong movie Marty Supreme – yet he managed to schedule a quick visit to the contest in his diary.

Contestants – predominately young men with dark curls and high cheekbones – were quizzed on their French language skills, their philosophies on improving the world and their romantic intentions with Kylie Jenner.

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Miles Mitchell from Staten Island was crowned the winner as the King of Chalamets. He was dressed in a full Willy Wonka outfit and tossed candy from his briefcase to the excited crowd. 

Chalamet’s arrival left the crowd and contestants stunned. His appearance was brief, posing with a few contestants before making his way back into a car and leaving the scene.

However, the event was not without drama. 

GQ reported that New York City Police Department officers arrested one Chalamet lookalike after “yelling for the crowd to disperse for gathering without a permit.”

The crowd chanted “Free Timmy!” and “Let him go!” and “This is fascism!” as seen on the AP Livestream.

As well as the arrest, contest organiser Po received a $500 fine for holding a non-permitted event.

In a statement to the BBC, the New York Police Department said it responded to “an unscheduled demonstration at Washington Square Park.”

The BBC noted: “It added that people were taken into custody and later released with a summons. It was not clear what the group were allegedly demonstrating over.”

Online, Chalamet stands were gobsmacked to see the actual Chalamet’s brief appearance at the contest and their reactions birthed some hilarious memes.

On X, one user posted: “why did timothee show up. I’m crying.”

Another quote tweeted the post with “the worms on arrakis.” A reference to sci-fi epic Dune, in which Chalamet plays main character Paul Atreides.

The Dune memes continued with a scene of Chalamet walking through a swarming crowd in the film re-contextualised for the contest: “Timothée walking through the crowd at the Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest.”

Others were hooked to their screens as the contest took place. 

So much so, they used the iconic Sims reaction meme: “not now sweetie. mommys watching the timothée chalamet look-alike contest rn.”

Here are some of our other favourite Chalamet lookalike contest reactions:

Which is your favourite? Let us know in the comments, but remember to keep the conversation respectful.

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