After hearing Pedro Pascal claim there is “no good Mexican food” in New York City, one restaurant was determined to fight back.
On Sunday (June 15), Orchard Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan was essentially blocked off as a crowd of people gathered in the rain to witness a Pedro Pascal lookalike contest in honor of the Mexican restaurant Son Del North’s first anniversary.
Given the success of prior lookalike contests, such as the viral Timothée Chalamet contest back in October 2024, chef and founder of Son Del North, Annisha Garcia, said her brother approached her about doing one for The Last of Us actor.
“We just did a little Canva thing, and then we posted, and yeah, that was it,” Garcia, whose restaurant had been hosting celebratory events all weekend, told The Independent.
According to the Instagram post, the winner would receive a $50 cash prize in addition to one year of free burritos. The second- and third-place winners received gift cards ($50 and $25, respectively), while the top ten finalists won free bean and cheese burritos.
The original plan had been to continue their regular service throughout the contest, but after glancing at the Google form RSVP list, the Son del North team quickly put up a blast Instagram post, announcing that they would be closing down at 12 p.m. to prepare for the crowd.
Garcia admitted that both she and her staff were disappointed by the miserable weather in the city on Sunday, adding that they were unsure if it would keep competitors away.
“We were sad because it was raining, and we were like, ‘No one is gonna come,’” she said. “Then people started showing up and we were like ‘Oh my god!’”
The contest began at exactly 1 p.m., with 25 potential Pedros and a crowd whispering in the hopes that, similar to Chalamet’s contest, the Gladiator II actor would make an appearance.
Some crowd members simply became part of the event by accident, wondering why everyone was gathering in front of a Mexican restaurant before getting sucked in by the free burritos and T-shirts being tossed around.
Meanwhile, Garcia noted a third reason why the crowd might have been there. “This is better than Hinge,” she said.
As The Independent began speaking to the contestants, it became clear that many of them had been convinced to enter by their friends or girlfriends.
“My girlfriend believes I look like Pedro Pascal,” Kelly Doule, also known as Pedro number one, told us. “I’m not convinced of it myself, but she is. So it’s kind of like a bet between us that I look more like him.”
He admitted that to prepare for the role, he even shaved his beard and trimmed his mustache.
Another contestant, Evan Lundstrom, said: “I’ve probably had over eight people within the last year tell me that I look like Pedro Pascal, so here I am.”
The contest began with the initial 25 Pedros making individual appearances on a podium in front of the restaurant, doing everything they could to win over the baying crowd. Some even recruited the help of their dogs or children.
However, at the last second, a 26th person begged to be part of the contest, claiming that he was late due to his commute from Brooklyn.
Following the first round, a group of three judges chopped the potential Pedros down to 10, which was then narrowed down to three.
As the final trio took the stage all at once, a clear winner was determined as everyone started immediately chanting for Pedro number five, whose real name is George Gountas.
Gountas admitted to The Independent following his win that he entered the contest on a whim, after his co-workers at The Daily Show told him that he looked like Pascal.
Despite working in the television industry as a lighting technician, Gountas doesn’t have any social media accounts. “I’ve been off of all social media for like seven years,” he said.
“I’ve been told I don’t exist, but now I guess I do because I’m the Pedro Pascal lookalike winner.”
