Last Sunday, New York City’s Mercer Street transformed into a chaotic runway as hordes of Willy Wonkas, Timothée Chalamet fans, and reporters were pressed shoulder-to-shoulder, marching towards a new haven after getting kicked out of Washington Square Park by police. Photojournalists leaped onto nearby benches and fences to photograph the nearly two-block-long stampede, while New Yorkers slogged towards the middle of the crowd, trying to get as close as possible to the large trophy and check directed to the “Best Tim”.

An organizer holding a large check for 50 US dollars.

These were the estimated 2500 attendants of the Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest, which had been previously advertised through a limited number of posters around the city with no other information except a time, location, and a promised grand prize of 50 US dollars. The gathering at the original meet-up spot under the Washington Square Arch had only lasted a few minutes, as police soon descended onto the ever-growing crowd, estimated at the time by the event organizer and youtuber Anthony Po to be around 10000 people.

“For legal reasons, I did not expect this many people to show up,” said Po, who has amassed 1.8 million subscribers on YouTube through similar stunts. He was the mind behind last year’s “Cheeseball Man” fiasco in Union Square, which drew a crowd of hundreds and 20 million views on TikTok, all watching him eat a jar of cheeseballs for 30 minutes.

A few minutes before Po was fined by police for an unpermitted gathering, a Chalamet look-alike was put in handcuffs a few meters away. Tamir, an attendee standing next to Po, explained that before the police were aware of who the organizer was, an officer grabbed the hands of the look-alike, causing an altercation between the two and leading to his arrest. In [livestream footage shot by the Associated Press (AP), the crowd can be heard booing as an officer takes the arrestee towards a patrol car. According to a New York Times report, the New York Police Department stated that four people were taken into custody over an “unscheduled demonstration” that day.

“If it’s under 1000 dollars, I’ll pay the guy’s bail,” said Po, referring to the look-alike who was publicly arrested at the park. “You can put that on the record.”

Anthony Po holding up his summons.

A mere minutes after the first arrestee, the real Timothée Chalamet was seen sneaking up and posing next to one of his doppelgangers for photos, before quickly leaving the area. The early departure caused Timothée to later lose his own look-alike contest to Staten Islander Miles Mitchell, one of the many Willy Wonka cosplayers present at the scene.

Anthony Po alongside Chalamet look-alikes at Mercer Playground.

“We knew they were going to give us an issue. We thought we could smooth talk it,” Po said. The police officers were not having it, however, and Po received a summons and a 500 dollar fine before being kicked out of the park alongside his growing crowd. His hearing date is set for Jan. 28th, 2025. “Yeah, that’s fine. If they’re gonna give us a 500-dollar fine every time, we’ll do this every time. They gotta up the ante for real,” he added, chuckling.

Crowd at Mercer Playground.

After getting booted out of the park, the crowd migrated en masse alongside Po to the comparatively tiny Mercer playground nearby. In order to still see the ensuing match-up of around 40 Chalamets in the small space, many resorted to standing up on the playground’s gates and holding onto the rails to watch from higher ground.

“I saw so many people I knew. Everyone just decided to congregate to come see this contest. It’s the most people I know that I’ve seen in one place,” said attendee and Gallatin student Samia Diasti. “I didn’t know it was gonna be such a huge thing! I just saw a poster in Union Square and I thought, that looks fun, I’ll go.”

Multiple attendees held up signs announcing their love for Timothée Chalamet, or requesting that the look-alikes contact them. One person came prepared with printed business cards announcing herself as single, providing an email with the alias “Timotheespleaseemailme” and having written “I'm dead serious” on the bottom of the cards.

The contest consisted of the audience loudly “Yay or Nay”-ing each contestant, a short and fruitless speed dating portion (as most of the tims were taken), and a Q&A section, where members of Po’s team, which included fellow influencers, asked the top yay’d Chalamets pressing questions to find the winning look-alike.

“What Marvel role would Timothée Chalamet play if he lowballed himself?”, “Can you speak French?”, “Why should you get the 50 dollars?”, “How would you make the world a better place?”

“Would you impregnate Kylie Jenner?”

Wait, what?

The last question drew visible discomfort from every contestant, with many dodging the question by going off-topic or reiterating that they were in a relationship. Despite the large amount of press present at the contest and the widespread attention that the event received online, no public discussion has been had on the inclusion of this invasive question. Po has also excluded this question from his YouTube video on the contest. The only reference to it so far has been by Yahoo Entertainment, which reported that one of the contestants answered no, citing a fear of Travis Scott.

After a final Yay or Nay round between Willy Wonka cosplayer Miles Mitchell and Dune superfan Zander Dueve, Mitchell was named the winner, promising to use his 50 US dollars to buy chocolate for the crowd.

After the announcement of the winner, Po revealed that every look-alike present at the contest would also be getting 50 dollars.

A common theme between the contestants was that their friends, family, or partners first made them aware of their resemblance to the curly-haired actor, encouraging them to participate in the contest after coming across one of Po’s posters around the city.

“So many people told me about this,” said Dempsey Bobbit, another Willy Wonka cosplayer. “I’ve lost count honestly.”

Po also explained that he was first inspired to organize the contest after being told by his producer that he looked like Timothée Chalamet.

After the winning Willy Wonka got his towering trophy and the look-alikes were given a contact email to request their respective 50 dollars from, the crowd began dispersing from the playground and all that was left of the contest were business cards from Chalamet fans and Snickers bars previously thrown as bribes by the triumphant Wonka onto the ground.