Inside New York City’s Pedro Pascal Look-Alike Contest — Find out Who Won

You know you’ve reached the peak of celebrity status when you have look-alikes ready and willing to show off their resemblance to their famous counterpart — and now actor Pedro Pascal is the latest to join the club, thanks to a local New York City Mexican restaurant.

Pedro has taken Hollywood by storm in the last 10 years, beginning with his role in Game of Thrones. Additional high-profile roles in Narcos, The Mandalorian, and The Last of Us followed.

A local NYC restaurant decided to prove to Pedro that the city does have great Mexican food after the actor made statements to the contrary. In response, on Sunday, June 15, Son Del North celebrated its first anniversary with a Pedro Pascal look-alike contest, according to The Independent.

“We just did a little Canva thing, and then we posted, and yeah, that was it,” said restaurant chef and founder Annisha Garcia. However, she told the outlet that she was afraid that the rainy weather would keep the road away and the contest wouldn’t happen.

“We were sad because it was raining, and we were like, ‘No one is gonna come,’” she recalled. “Then people started showing up and we were like ‘Oh my god!’” According to the details of the contest, the person named the winner would receive a $50 cash prize in addition to one year of free burritos. The second- and third-place winners received $50 and $25 gift cards, and the top ten finalists won free bean and cheese burritos.

George Gountas, known to the crowd as “Pedro No. 5,” was crowned the winner. He shared with The Independent that his co-workers at The Daily Show pushed him to enter, as he said that they constantly tell him that he looks like Pedro. It appears they were right, as George beat out 30 other look-alike hopefuls for the title.

In the comments of an Instagram post showing George winning the contest, Pedro responded with a few appreciative emojis.

In his first official post-win interview, George spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about being Pedro’s doppelgänger.

“It started back when Pedro was on Game of Thrones. He was Red Viper, a very beloved character. They killed off a lot of those in very startling fashion,” he told the outlet, of when he first started being told he looked like Pedro.

“My wife was so freaked out when he got killed,” George continued. “She’s like, ‘I can’t watch this. I feel like the guy is crushing your head.’” Then my daughter’s classmates would tell their parents how I ‘look like famous people.’ They’d take pictures of their TVs and send them to my wife.”

“I look more like him than I look like my own brother,” he admitted.

If you need more of the real Pedro Pascal, you can watch him in season two of HBO’s The Last of Us, which is currently available to stream on HBO Max.