Jeremy Allen White Is the Latest Hot Celeb to Inspire Lookalike Contests Across the U.S.

Following the massive success of New York City's Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest in October, which saw hundreds of participants decked out in their best Wonka-inspired looks — and a guest appearance from the man himself — dozens of similar celebrity doppelgänger competitions have cropped up across the U.S.

From Zayn Malik to Zendaya, it seems anyone is fair game. Even The Bear's Jeremy Allen White.

Indeed, the Shameless actor and former White Boy of the Month was the latest subject of several copycat contests over the weekend of Nov. 16, including ones in Manhattan and Chicago.

And the crowned winner of the latter event, a 37-year-old therapist named Ben Shabad, is going viral.

Unlike Brooklyn's Zayn Malik lookalike competition — which, while it admittedly did attract some beautiful humans, didn't uncover anyone who looked very much like the former One Direction star — Chicago's Jeremy Allen White meetup on Nov. 16 was a massive success. Just ask Ben Shabad, the winner of the contest who walked away with $50, a pack of Marlboro Red cigarettes, and a huge new following of thirsty fans.

In an interview with Good Day Chicago, Ben said that he's been compared to the star ever since his days as Lip on Shameless. He even shared that he has people mentioning the resemblance to him "three to four times" a week.

"It's very flattering," the Chicago native said. "He is a good-looking guy ... It's always nice to be recognized for anything that's positive."

Ben was one of more than 50 Jeremy doppelgängers in attendance at the event, which took place in Chicago's Humboldt Park, not far from where The Bear is both set and filmed.

Per The Chicago Sun-Times, the event was put on by Albany Park roommates Kelsey Cassaro and Taylor Vaske, and it was originally supposed to be a joke.

However, after the silly flyer that they posted on social media started to gain traction, they "knew they had to make it happen."

"(Kelsey) texted me a mockup of a flyer, just being funny," Taylor told The Daily Northwestern, a publication local to the event. "In the middle of laughing about it, we printed a whole bunch of copies. We each posted a TikTok, and it blew up."

And though the competition attracted mostly young, white men in blue aprons with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, there were a few wild-card entrants, too — like "baby Jeremy," a crowd-favorite entrant who was just 2 years old.

While some were likely hoping for Jeremy to pull a Timothée and show up at his own lookalike competition, he didn't show up. However, the event was a hit anyway.

For many, even those who lost the contest, it was a fun source of community and camaraderie in an uncertain time.

"[It was] post-election, it was getting colder in Chicago, and we just wanted a nice, happy day for everybody,” Taylor said of the event. “That’s what it was.”