They answered the call for Miles Teller look-alikes. Only one nabbed the cheesesteak grand prize.
Twenty-two people showed up to compete in the Teller look-alike contest in Rittenhouse Square, organized by two college students.
With parted lips, soft eyes, and rosy cheeks, Henry Luce sat on a bench in Rittenhouse Square waiting for Sunday’s Miles Teller look-alike contest to start.
Looking just like how the Whiplash actor described himself on his first headshot, the 19-year-old was one of 22 “look-alikes” to show up to the unserious competition.
“Unless the actual Miles Teller comes, he is going to win,” said Luce’s mother, Kristin Keiser, whose phone blew up with notifications from loved ones when they heard about the contest, urging that her son participate.
But competition was stiff.
Wearing a green bomber jacket and jeans, and sporting a lampshade mustache, Joe Ems looked like he was pulled from the Top Gun movie set itself.
Any other Sunday, the sales director would be on the couch watching football, instead he opted to test whether or not people were right when they commented on his similarity to the Downingtown native actor.
Next to them, other “Tellers” gathered, almost all wearing Top Gun outfits, eager for the experience and, of course, the grand prize: a free cheesesteak from Angelo’s Pizzeria.
College students Ellie Clark and Luiza Sulea fit right in with their black sunglasses, hair in a bun, and mustaches drawn on with brow pencil.
“We are here for the bit,” Clark said.
Added Sulea: “She is vegetarian, though, so if she wins we will give the cheesesteak to someone else.”
The contest was organized by two college students, Helene Chibane, who attends Thomas Jefferson University, and Gabi Greco, who goes to Drexel University, both 23. Inspired by other look-alike contests nationwide, they decided to post the idea on Reddit.
“We were like, ‘It’s Philly’s time to shine. Who is a hometown hero we could pick?’ And Miles Teller came to mind,” Chibane said.
The city did not disappoint.
Within minutes, hundreds of people, particularly young women, surrounded the contestants, even standing on the park’s central fountain, eager to watch the competition. Some even put their names in a knitted hat for the chance to be randomly picked as judges.
After posing and providing 360-degree views of themselves, seven contestants made it to the second round, including Luce and Ems.
“Everyone here does look like Miles Teller but they are wearing costumes; I just put on a [red Phillies] sweater that I wear every day. This is just me,” said Luce when asked by the judges why he thought he should win.
And win he did.
Raising his hands in triumph, the teenager was showered with applause from the crowd.
Taking a bite of victory, in the form of his first Angelo’s Cooper sharp cheesesteak, the Glenside-area native and marketing and supply chain major at Pennsylvania State University declared it the best cheesesteak he had ever had.
Excited but unsurprised by this victory, his mother reminded him of the importance of who he is beyond looking like Teller.
“He is the kind of person who found a baby bunny who was injured and drove it to animal rescue because that’s just the kind of person he is,” Keiser said.