They may look like pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter or comedian Adam Sandler, but don’t expect them to belt out “Espresso” and leave you in stitches with some slapstick jokes.
Celebrity look-alike contests have arrived in Dallas, and with them the doppelgangers who cause heads to turn, jaws to drop, and passersby to wonder whether they’ve merely encountered a famous-looking face or had a brush with actual fame.
SMU grad Rodrigo Ricaud decided to bring the contests to his own town after seeing the trend gain traction in cities including New York and Los Angeles.
The entrepreneur has used the events to promote his zero-sugar, zero-calorie flavored drink drops, which he says have a lot in common with the eye-catching competitions.
“Our brand is about bringing people together, about mixing things up, about turning ordinary or the mundane into something memorable,” Ricaud explained.
As a Dallas native and frequent visitor to the Katy Trail, Ricaud knew the trail attracted thousands of visitors each day while Reverchon Park beneath it often sat empty, making it the perfect place to bring people together, including some who looked a lot like celebrities.
“Dallas is a unique city,” Ricaud said. “We have so many people moving to Dallas. The culture and the creativity hasn’t fully caught up to its potential yet.”
For the first competition, the entrepreneur chose fan-favorite celebrity, Wuthering Heights and Euphoria actor Jacob Elordi.
Ricaud took to the streets to find contestants, walking around Dallas and the Katy Trail, handing out flyers, and inviting men to compete. He even recruited the eventual winner, SMU master’s student Marcello Pelton, while Pelton was taking a bite of his burger at Katy Trail Ice House.
“The first event was by far the most successful,” Ricaud said. “We had a lot of media coverage and hundreds of people at the park.”
What began as a marketing idea quickly turned into a crowd-pleasing community event, with spectators laughing, filming, and cheering on strangers competing for the title of Dallas’ best Jacob Elordi look-alike.
The success of the first contest inspired Ricaud to keep the idea going. Since May, he has hosted contests to find Dallas’ Glen Powell, Adam Sandler, and Sabrina Carpenter doppelgangers, moving the events to Stan’s Blue Note.
Unlike the park, Stan’s offered a stage that Ricaud said created a “chaotic, funny situation,” helping fuel the contests’ growing popularity.
Ricaud is already planning a Bad Bunny look-alike contest and a future “battle of the run clubs” event.
The events have done more than crown the city’s celebrity doppelgangers, explained Ricaud. They’ve turned strangers into friends and transformed overlooked spaces into gathering places.
Since the Jacob Elordi event, contest winner Pelton has reached out to Ricaud to meet up — an example of the connections that have grown from the local events.
“We set out to create an experience that brings people together,” Ricaud said.
With more contests and events planned, Ricaud hopes those friendships will continue to multiply, giving Dallasites another reason to step outside, meet someone new, and experience their city together.
