Lookalike competitions have become a sweeping phenomenon when it comes to the latest and most popular TV shows. With “Heated Rivalry” blowing up as much as it did, fans have held contests around the world, trying to find the doppelgangers of the two main characters, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.
First starting in New York’s Washington Square Park, the wave of fictional character lookalike contests has made its way to the West Coast.
This isn’t the first contest in San Diego. In December 2024, the Jacob Elordi lookalike contest at SDSU’s Turtle Pond drew crowds, all eager to join the trend.
On Feb. 15, San Diego’s “Heated Rivalry” lookalike contest was held at Morley Field in Balboa Park. The competition started at 2:30 p.m. with over 300 people in attendance.
Flyers for the competition were posted throughout San Diego to promote the event. The crowd was much larger than the host, Fran Guadarrama, and one of the co-hosts, Andi Mora Solis, a third-year psychology major at SDSU, had anticipated.
“There are way more people than we had expected. I think this will be a good opportunity to build an LGBTQ+ community, especially with everything going on right now,” Solis said.
As people gathered around the sign-up booth, excitement built as more men and women signed up to participate. Pop music echoed around the park as stickers inspired by the show were given out to the audience.
Kevin Young, a contestant for Shane, wore a light blue button-up to mimic the character and was one of the first to sign up for the competition.
“This is the first time I’ve been to a lookalike competition,” Young said. “There aren’t that many Wasian characters in media that have had this kind of impact on the culture where I felt inclined to try, but this is a fun chance to do something like this.”
As the hosts announced the competition was starting, participants stood in front of the sign-up table for all the audience to see. To start, Guadarrama instructed each contestant to say a quote from the show from their lookalike character. The audience clapped in excitement after each person said their line.
For the second round, all of the Ilya lookalikes went to the middle of the circle and had to dance to “Rasputin” by Boney M., a song associated with the character because of his Russian heritage. After that group, the Shane lookalikes danced in the middle to the same song, many doing the dance from the video game “Just Dance,” causing the crowd to scream in encouragement.
After the dancing, a late contestant, Mitch Depew, arrived to compete as Ilya. The crowd grew even louder, demanding that Depew be let into the competition due to his resemblance to the character.
The hosts had him say a line from the show, and he chose Ilya’s line, “I’m coming to the cottage.” He then had to dance alone in the middle of the circle, but was confident nonetheless, just like the character he was dressing up as.
For the last round of the contest, the competitors did a runway walk to “All The Things She Said” by t.A.T.u, using the slowed and reverbed version by Harrison. Many channeled their inner Shane when walking, put on a serious face or pretended to play hockey. The audience cheered for those they liked the most.
The Ilya contestants did their strut next, with some of them taking their shirts off to mimic the character’s behavior, causing the crowd to cheer wildly.
The crowd was heavy with anticipation of who the winners would be. The hosts chose a first and second place for the Shane and Ilya lookalikes, and the audience screamed as the first place winners were announced: Young as Shane and Depew as Ilya.
The two victors received a crown, sash, shirt, mini trophy with an alcohol shooter inside and $40 each. To celebrate, they both linked arms and took the shots together.
Fans cheered for Young and Depew to kiss, and after the two winners did a quick peck, screams were heard throughout the park.
“My homeboy told me about the competition, and people keep coming up to me and asking if I’ve seen the show, saying I look like [Ilya]. I don’t really see it, but I won the whole thing,” Depew said.
The competition was slightly unorganized, as the event started late and the hosts’ megaphones were sometimes not loud enough, but it was still a lot of fun in the end.
“This is going to sound so silly, but I had a dream about this competition. I woke up, went on TikTok, saw a similar event in New York and thought, ‘San Diego needs one,’” Guadarrama said. “I wanted to create a safe space for people who enjoy the show, and I like how it turned out.”
