A much-anticipated “Heated Rivalry” look-alike contest took Greenwich Village by storm on Sunday afternoon, garnering dozens of vaguely Japanese- and Slavic-looking men, hundreds of spectators, and millions of online views.
Contestants Ryan Heffernan and Tyler Gaul walked home with $50 each for their resemblance to Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, respectively, from the wildly popular Canadian TV series, which follows a decade-long love affair between two professional hockey players.
Announced in early January, the event quickly drew attention amidst online fervor for the show and its breakout stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. Some spectators hoped – to no avail – that given the contest’s online coverage, Williams and Storrie would make an appearance.
Organizers Katherine Gehring and Charlotte Steinblatt promoted the contest on social media and Partiful, a popular party organizing app. They received 4,975 RSVPs by the day of.
The premise of the trend is simple, adapting to whichever male celebrity has captured the internet’s heart that month. Similar-looking (or overly confident) men gather at a park, the audience votes by shriek, and one look-alike walks home with a cash prize. It’s implied that spectators arrive in hopes of finding their own Shane Hollander or Ilya Rosanov.
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Look-alike contests on the rise
Look-alike contests entered the cultural zeitgeist in October 2024 when nearly 10,000 swarmed Washington Square Park in search of the city’s best Timothée Chalamet dupe. Across major cities, other contests have scouted off-brand Jeremy Allen Whites and Paul Mescals, Pedro Pascals and Glen Powells. Gehrig herself organized Boston’s first major look-alike contests for Tom Holland and Chris Evans.
Sunday marked at least the third quest to find “Heated Rivalry” dupes, with one hosted in Boston on Jan. 19 and Sydney on Jan. 31. After Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s encouragement to stay home with a copy of “Heated Rivalry,” Rachel Reid’s 2019 novel on which the series is based, during last weekend’s winter storm, it feels only natural that New York followed suit – and at the birthplace of the Look-Alike Contest, no less.
The location was short-lived, however, as police quickly shut down the masses that began to descend around the Washington Square Arch at 2 p.m. A confused huddle migrated to the Mercer Playground several blocks away, standing on snowbanks and hanging off fences to catch a glimpse of the show. Logistical difficulties began a week earlier when one of the biggest winter storms in years forced organizers to postpone from Jan. 25 to Feb. 1.
But while both visibility and temperatures were low – the forecast showing about 20°F – morale remained high as the crowd cheered for their look-alike of choice and chanted for the Shanes and Ilyas to kiss. Contestants seemed highly confident in their resemblance to the characters. Some spectators were less convinced.
“The community was great,” said one onlooker. “The so-called look-alikes, maybe not. Someone told them after a couple drinks that they looked like the characters.
“A lot of Temu Ilyas. Lackluster at best.”
