A Jungkook look-alike contest was held in Chicago, on Nov. 24. Captured from Amber Alexander's YouTube account
A look-alike competition for K-pop juggernaut BTS' Jungkook created a buzz, following in the footsteps of Timothee Chalamet's viral New York contest last month, where the Hollywood star himself made a surprise appearance.
A contest to find the K-pop star's lookalike was held on Sunday (local time) at Pingsom Park in Chicago, U.S., drawing a large crowd of participants and K-pop fans alike. The grand prize winner was an LA-based YouTuber named Andrew Alexander, who received a bottle of soju (Korean distilled liquor) and $20.
He dressed up in a white oversized t-shirt, black padded jacket and gray acid-wash jeans with hand tattoos and piercings on his face matching the ones that the artist has.
The YouTuber, who has about 260,000 subscribers, garnered interest from BTS fans four years ago with a video of him transforming into Jungkook.
“He flew all the way from California for this. After years of getting comments saying he looks like Jungkook. WON THE LOOKALIKE COMPETITION!!!,” the winner's sister wrote on social media.
BTS fans' responses to the contest and its winner varied.
"I see a slight resemblance. Probably the best of the group for sure! I hope they all had a great time!" wrote one user on X.
Another user wrote, "He doesn't look like him, but he got all the piercings right."
The trend of star look-alike competitions is likely to continue, with an event for Mark of NCT planned for Dec. 13.
A social media account, Brokekpopgirls, posted an announcement for the singer's look-alike competition, inviting applicants to participate.
The contest, scheduled to take place under the Washington Square Park Arch in New York City, will offer watermelon as a prize, which is known to be Mark's favorite fruit.
Finding impersonators of stars is not a new phenomenon, but it continues to captivate fans worldwide.
In Korea, JTBC's music show “Hidden Singer,” which ran for seven seasons until 2022, generated excitement with each episode featuring ordinary people impersonating famous singers. The show invited well-known artists like BoA, Taeyeon of Girls' Generation, and IU to compete against impersonators, with the goal of being the last one standing. The audience had to identify the real singer solely by listening to their voices.