CHICAGO (AP) – The Bear has a mirror image.

More than 50 contestants turned last Saturday in a Chicago park to compete in a lookalike contest vying to portray actor Jeremy Allen White, star of the Chicago-based television series The Bear.

Beyond the renown of being named White’s unofficial body double, the winner walked away with USD50 in recognition of the character White plays in the series – Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto – a young, award-winning chef from the glittery world of fine dining who returns to the Windy City to captain his family’s dive sandwich shop.

On the show, the character is sometimes referred to as the ‘Bear’, and the chef had dreams of owning a fine dining restaurant that would carry that name.

As hundreds looked on and cheered, the prize went to 37-year-old mental health therapist Ben Shabad, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

“This is the coolest thing I’ve done all week,” said Shabad, who was hoisted into the air in the middle of the crowd, a crown perched upon his head.

Most of the wannabe doppelgangers were white men, but some women and people of different ethnicities got in on the fun, the newspaper said. There was even a toddler White lookalike.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin