Dev Patel knows about his celebrity lookalike contest, which took place in San Francisco in November and drew more than 500 people, and he’s in awe. The actor was asked about the event during a talk at the Red Sea Film Festival and confirmed, “Oh, yes. I have heard all about it!” 

“I’m surprised more than five people showed up,” Patel said, via Variety. “I was quite overwhelmed by it and very touched. I also gotta say that I think most of the men who showed up were far more handsome and qualified than I am. I think I would have lost at my own lookalike contest, for sure.” He added that he found it “really amazing” despite being “shocked at the sheer amount of people that showed up.” 

Initially, the event organizers planned to hold a Robert Pattinson lookalike contest, but switched things up at the last minute to better represent the local Indian community.

“Hopefully, I am just the gateway to this happening to all sorts of brilliant actors of different races and genders,” Patel said. “It was refreshing to see a community come together like that and, hey, if there is ever a moment where I can be associated with some form of laughter and joy, it’s great. It is all good.” 

The actor noted that his own production company, Minor Realm, hopes to do something similar. “A lot of it has to do with the name itself,” he said. “It’s about minority representation, the unsung stories, and a realm for those more ignored existences to really flourish and exist.”

The Dev Patel celebrity lookalike contest was just one of many similar events that have been held around the world in recent months. The trend has seen people vying to be mistaken for Jeremy Allen White, Zayn Malik, Paul Mescal, Harry Styles, Glen Powell, and Timothée Chalamet.

After the Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest was held in New York’s Washington Square Park, organizer Anthony Po was slapped with a $500 fine for hosting a public event without a permit. Thankfully, Chalamet’s team stepped in to pay the fee.

“They offered to pay the ticket, which is truly funny,” Po told People, adding that he didn’t accept the offer and instead, the party-organizing app Partifull took care of the tab. “They basically [said] like, ‘We thought it was awesome. Thanks so much.’ It was all good and fun.”