There's something a bit, well, unglamorous about being a celebrity lookalike - or at least there used to be.
Once upon a time being a celebrity lookalike meant a lifetime of slightly depressing nightclub appearances and shop openings. But now it apparently means earning vast amounts of money online - well, vast when you think that all you have to do is be yourself, put on some make up and take a selfie. And 22 year old Boston student Andele Lara has earned over $20,000 purely by taking photos of herself and putting them on Instagram. The reason? She looks like Rihanna. And yes, that's it.
Now, Ms Lara does look a bit like Rihanna (though not, I would have thought, enough like the Barbadian singer to make people chase her in the streets, which she claims happens all the time). But I wouldn't have thought this vague resemblance would be enough to make thousands of dollars. And yet apparently her likeness to the star is enough for brands to give her thousands of dollars worth in clothing contracts, hoping that all those Rihanna fans who mistake her for their idol will check out what she's wearing.
Lara has over 18,000 followers on Instagram and says that when Rihanna closed her own account, "some of her fans have written to me saying that my profile had replaced hers in their lives." Which basically means that Ri-Ri's fans would happily look at pictures of someone who looks a bit like their heroine if the real thing isn't around. The world has basically gone mad.
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Larais considering ditching her studies and doing this as a full time gig. But I'm not sure if this is the best career plan. I mean, will she still be able to make a living out of this in ten years, let alone thirty? I suspect not, although to be honest if you'd told me people would get great pleasure out of looking of photos of a girl who looks a bit like a pop star I wouldn't have believed you, so what do I know?
But it all got me thinking if I too could get in on this celebrity lookalike game. Alas, I wracked my brains and it turns out I don't really look like anyone famous at all. But do you? And if so, would you fancy taking some photos of yourself and earning a few grand? Or is your celebrity lookalike someone less glamorous, like my sister who used to get told, many years ago, she looked a bit like Little Mo off EastEnders?
