Good, clean fun. The radio revival of celebrity lookalike contests

Secret Sound. Beat the Bomb. The best and most successful radio competitions are often the simplest ones.

Perhaps that’s why celebrity lookalike contests are having a radio revival. It’s good, clean fun, with enough substance to keep us interested. Low stakes, low rent and low risk.

Last week, KIIS duo Kyle & Jackie O held a lookalike contest which saw them come face to face with their own doppelgängers.

Then, just last weekend, New Zealand radio station The Edge hosted a Jason Momoa lookalike competition, with a $1000 cash prize on offer for the lucky winner. Adding another layer to this contest, there was also a prize for the contestant who looked the LEAST like the Hollywood actor.

Seventeen entrants gathered at Mission Bay – with one even travelling all the way from Australia. The winner was James Haronga, who’s a dead ringer for the Aquaman star.

The judges were suitably impressed by the uncanny resemblance.

“I get mistaken for him on a daily basis,” Haronga admits.

Breakfast show host Meg Mansell says “We were genuinely blown away by the calibre and amount of entries. All the entrants were such great sports, but the winner really took it out when we all actually thought Jason had arrived at Mission Bay to surprise us.”

But for me, the most entertaining part of the whole shebang was a TikTok video, in which staff at the radio station were asked if they’ve ever been mistaken for a famous person.

@theedgenz

we’ve got our Jason Momoa lookalike comp happening this weekend, so here’s a few of our own ones from the team x #lookalikes

♬ original sound – The Edge – The Edge

The look on the face of the bloke who says he gets mistaken for Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is truly priceless.