For this hypothetical situation, imagine I drop you off in a random location where you don’t know anyone. You have 24 hours to convince at least 30 people that you’re a famous celebrity.
Success will be judged based on whether people ask you for selfies, mention you on social media after seeing you, or request your autograph.
You don’t have to impersonate a real person unless you think that would work. You can invent a completely fake celebrity identity and stick to it. The goal is to get people to genuinely believe you’re someone famous and treat you accordingly.
You can’t tell anyone about the challenge. You can’t pay or pressure anyone into helping you, and you can’t stage the scenario with plants or collaborators. While you’re out there, hidden cameras will follow you and you’ll be wearing a microphone, so everything you say and do will be recorded.
In short, no loopholes. You have to make strangers believe you’re famous, all on your own, face to face. (so online posts and everything would not count, only what’s happening in person)
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Copy of the original post in case of edits: For this hypothetical situation, imagine I drop you off in a random location where you don’t know anyone. You have 24 hours to convince at least 30 people that you’re a famous celebrity.
Success will be judged based on whether people ask you for selfies, mention you on social media after seeing you, or request your autograph.
You don’t have to impersonate a real person unless you think that would work. You can invent a completely fake celebrity identity and stick to it. The goal is to get people to genuinely believe you’re someone famous and treat you accordingly.
You can’t tell anyone about the challenge. You can’t pay or pressure anyone into helping you, and you can’t stage the scenario with plants or collaborators. While you’re out there, hidden cameras will follow you and you’ll be wearing a microphone, so everything you say and do will be recorded.
In short, no loopholes. You have to make strangers believe you’re famous, all on your own, face to face. (so online posts and everything would not count, only what’s happening in person)
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As a white man, getting dropped off in Asia will make this easier.
Define famous celebrity. i could just claim to be a big time youtuber like Mr. Beast and act super obnoxious and I’m sure enough people would buy that story if I just make a fake youtube image of me with 11 million subscribers.
Two words, nursing home
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I’m pretty sure I could just walk around in Asia with sunglasses on and it would happen almost automatically.
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On the one hand, people tell me I look a lot like Taylor Swift and I think I could maaaybe pull that off if I ended up in Asia or the global south. Otherwise, I think I would probably fabricate an identity as a celebrity in the super niche field I work in—nobody knows what it is, really, so I feel like that would be a nice cover.
Buy expensive Spiderman costume. go to elementary schools and tell kids im Tom Holland. Get 30 dumbass kids to believe it in seconds. then run before I get blasted on the news as a pedophiles or something
Spend $1000 on some professional looking signs, rent some drapes and scaffolding, and a mic/PA system. You could use the whole day in a highly public area essentially busking/street performing, and have a good shot at fooling 30 people who are just looking to be entertained and don’t really care.
I think the real challenge for $10mil is if you can convince a few real skeptics.
Nobody knows what musicians look like, I could claim to be a famous bassist for like some newish band and maybe get away with it
Heck yeah! Find some now defunct child star! Claim to be doing a comeback tour. Get drunk, yell at everyone and say this is the promo for celebrity rehab.
I’d tell people I was one of the mighty ducks. Believable enough I think
When I was younger I used to look like Keanu Reeves but I’ve since gained weight and don’t really look like him anymore. For 10 million I’d lost weight, our beards look similar, I’d just need some fake hair to pull off the look, maybe a bit of makeup. I would need more than 24 hours though to lose the weight to pull that off.
Easy, a friend of mine used to do this. He’s put on dark glasses and be my bodyguard, totally randomly. He’d usher people back when they got too close to me, talked to bouncers about getting a private seat somewhere etc. Worked every time. I never had the balls but his front was legendary.
My first two thoughts are, an airport lounge, or lavish gifts on a children’s wing of a hospital.
At the airport lounge, I approach a few strangers for selfies until everyone around wants one themselves.
Too easy
I went to knot fest back in 2014. For those who don’t know, it is a massive two day festival for metal musicians (and Tech N9ne)
I was dressed the part. Long hair, jeans, band shirt, etc…. Didn’t think anything of it until later on when I saw a few people taking pictures of me and my friends. I thought it was social media people just getting swathes of guests for Facebook likes.
Until some younger guy who looks like he just got out of middle school comes up and asks me ‘can I get a picture with you?’ After that, some dude offers me a joint and poses with me for a picture (which ie DIDN’T ask for..) it was wild. Someone finally called me by my doppelganger name and I figured it out.
Oli Herbert. Guitarist from all that remains who past a few years later. It was a TRIP being a celebrity.
Tl;Dr – This has happened to me before at a metal fest.
How famous? I can for sure easily convince tons of people I’m a b list celebrity. A-list would clearly be a lot harder tho 😂 I’d still do it tho, would just go see some Amish people 🤷♂️😂
That’s easy. I’ll tell everyone I’m Banksy, and paint some crap on a wall to prove it.
Go to a smallish resort town towards the end of the season or early off-season. Call a hotel, nice but not too nice, and explain that you’re a celeb of some kind, maybe ( me being a random white dude) a European film star. State that you want relative privacy while you are there. Interact with hotel staff like you are someone important, but don’t be a prick. Stay a week or so. Tip generously but be slightly demanding. You’ll get your thirty people in that week, no problem.
Hire fake security and an escalade.
I have been told since I was a teenager that I look like Drew Carey, so I could probably pull that off, especially in a different country from the US.
Easy in college I was able to convince a ton of people at parties I was a back up dancer in a Chris brown music video
I saw an app that makes it look like you are on instagram live, and you are streaming to 100k+ people, with live comments and everything. Go to a club and people will falll for it really quick.
I’ve done this, repeated this, and it works like a charm.
Tell people you’re a presenter from a show that’s no longer on the air, something they’ll kinda remember, but struggle to put a name to a face.
At Uni (as a joke) I would convince groups of people that I was a presenter from T4 on the Beach (if anyone remembers that show).
Anyway it works, and it comes with free drinks!
I’d at least give it a try! I’m reasonably attractive and fairly talented as a rock singer. I’m only in a small local cover band, but I have enough knowledge and stage experience to be convincing to a random stranger. I have video clips from shows too, one of which was on a good size stage in a small town theater for a charity event. So I could show them that. (They won’t be able to see that there’s only a handful of people in the audience!)
A little investment into some expensive (or at least expensive looking) clothing and accessories, get my hair and makeup done professionally, and that’ll help a lot.
Thr easiest place to do this would be somewhere like Time’s Square.
Hire a posse of people to play photographers and journalists to be paparazzi and follow me up and down the street.
Dress well and act the part and you are bound to have all sorts of people get excited over nothing.
I’m gonna drop 100k pulling up to a busy bar with a nice rental, hire a few guards and some fans and boom. 30 people quick
If I can get 30 people to take pictures of me and post them on social media that counts?
Because I could just rent a van and paint on the side, ” Ryan Reynolds is tied up inside this van.” And I’m pretty sure I could get 30 people to take pictures of that and post them on social media just by driving around a big city.
Would that kind of tactic work?
Social experiments have proven this to be a LOT easier than you’re probably thinking.
Easy. Be white in a non white area.
Get five people to run after me and ask for autographs and selfies. The crowd would follow.
Maybe. I’ve had many people over the years tell me I look a lot like a particular TV actor. He’s been out of the spotlight for several years now, so it’s possible people’s memories of his face are fuzzy enough for me to fool them. But I’d need time to study his mannerisms and bio, and maybe watch at least a few episodes of the show he was on!
“I’m Evan Demarioberg. The top motion capture actor in the entertainment industry. Most people don’t recognize me, but NYC and LA are full of fanboys and fangirls that make it hard for me to go out in public. It’s nice to be here in Springfield where I can just be me. Everyone here is so nice and genuine!”
As a Black 24 Year old, my dad is a pilot all I have to do is put on a nice suit and tell him to book me a first class flight to Paris and I would have this done in 30 minutes
Improv Everwhere did an in person book reading and signing by Anton Chekov. A lot of people showed up to get his autograph.
As an opera singer, I could probably convince some people who weren’t well versed in singing (pun intended) that I was a famous opera singer. Not sure anyone would post about it tho. Another comment saying “nursing home” probably nailed it.
I can’t even get my family to stop using my old name.
Find a celebrity willing to split the money. Easier for them to pretend to be me than for me to pretend to be them.
Does getting a disney princess costume and going to preschool count?
I’ve done it and it happened entirely by accident!
Believing you’re a famous celeb doesn’t mean people will care. There are random japanese comedian celebrities that I wouldn’t care enough to get a selfie with even if I know they’re famous.
I literally get people asking to take of pictures of me as Andrew Lincoln so, yes I could definitely pull this off 😂
I have been told I look like Jack Black…. I think I could do it…. In Asia.
It depends on the location really. Some places I would already be a celebrity just because of where im from. Somewhere like the US I could easily claim to be a footballer or a musician and my accent would carry most of the workload.
Based on how easily people get scammed this will be a super easy challenge to complete.
Ok so we actually did something similar in 2012. I used to be good friends with this rich Arab guy. He was good looking, in his early 20s, wicked sense of humor. He was coming to the US and he wanted to do some harmless pranks.
What we came up with is a flash mob cause that was a thing at the time, we got a bunch of people with cameras to show up at the airport like paparazzi and he got off the plane dressed in his best. They all started clamoring around and taking pictures of him while his friend and brother pretended to be security.
Well, it worked. People who weren’t part of the flash mob started taking pictures of him. I went up and asked for his autograph and then other people started doing it, taking pictures with him, etc.
No idea who they thought he was. Just social contagion.
I’d probably do the same thing. I look vaguely like Cate Blanchett so I might play up that angle.
Absolutely not. But one time at summer camp, I spent the week speaking with an Irish brogue and convinced all the other campers I was an Irish exchange student. (I’ve been told since I was wee, “you’ve got the map of Ireland all over your face!”) I was 11. My brother and his friends were counselors at the camp and helped me pull it off.
Wearing a wedding dress in Vegas and walking around with a couple photographers would do it for me.
Why do they have to talk about it on social media? Shouldn’t believing for real just be enough? If it was me I’d just talk to friends about it……not post on social media about it. If you want that, you need to pick a not-random place to increase the chances of people shallow enough to do that so that you aren’t giving an unnecessary handicap. Or just change the rules to not impose Gen Z standards for reacting to meeting a celebrity lol
All you need is a headscarf, white robe, and sunglasses. Rent an expensive car for a day for even more success.
As long as you’re not pasty white, you can easily convince people you’re an oil prince.
Hell that happened to me in the 8th grade. I moved from Los Angeles to North East Florida. The kids at my school swore I was an actor and had famous friends. Nope just a skater black kid from cali. It was bizarre and very funny. I admit I milked it. Everyone assumed that i was a good fighter too. That was also a lie. This was back in 2000
I was at a family dinner party maybe 15 years ago at a restaurant called “el cholo” in Los Angeles and we had the entire restaurant convinced my bro in law was a famous Mexican singer, he can sing well and he’s a lil flamboyant and boisterous, he had got up and sang with the mariachi, the whole staff took pictures with him, he’s a maintenance guy for a city ..
go to asia, rent a luxury car for a day. Dress normaly and engage in small talk. When they ask about the car just say “oh I did a couple movies in america for some kind of comic company”
Can I just wear a Santa costume? Millions of kids believe random dudes are Santa every year
I’ve been told by half a dozen random people over a span of several years that I look a lot like Gerard Butler.
I reckon I can lean into that.
I’ve already done it by mistake.
A few years ago we went to Islands of Adventure and my husband and I single rider lined the Gringots ride. The single rider line doesn’t come out to the general line like some rides, if I recall it met up with the fast pass line, but there was no one in it. I was loaded, alone, into my own cart and then was staged in front of the general line. Everyone was staring and chatting when I got off the ride and two people took pictures of me sitting alone on the ride. I asked the cast member what was happening. He said they think I’m someone famous because I was riding alone when the rest of the cars were full.
Now where’s my money?
I could probably pass for an ex-WWE wrestler to people who weren’t wrestling fans.
I think without some sort of digital backstopping, fake accounts that show you as a musician/entertainer/celeb/whatever. Those “followers” don’t need to count towards the 30, but right away people are going to want to do a cursory social media/Google search, you need some fake digital clout so that you aren’t immediately obvious, IMHO.
With that in place, I think I could do it no problem, maybe even without that.
We need to define fame…
But I’m pretty sure I could walk into a retirement home and convince 30 old people I’m a famous music celebrity and none of them would question me on it.
It was 2003 and I was doing the ever classic Euro-trip after high school. We were hostel hopping and drinking our way through western Europe.
In London, our first stop, we met a guy with a big fro who looked a little like Matt Stone. So we hung out all night and told everyone it’s Matt Stone and Trey Parker couldn’t make the trip. I know we convinced at least 30 Matt was actually there.
Dressing up and heading over to LA’s walk of fame or some other tourist trap to prey on Chinese tourists.
Just do the Lorenzo vonmaterhorn.
Easy.
go to lunch at Nobu in West Hollywood and pretend to be bestselling famous author Malcolm Gladwell whose book adaptation they are making into a new film. Leak to paparazzi for bonus points.
No one knows what most authors look like anyway, but a curly dark wig would probably do it even for those who had a clue what he looks like.
I look like Matt Berry and do a really good impression. A minimal amount of grooming would really send it.
I realized this after I put the painting of him from the What We Do In The Shadows intro as my phone background and people kept asking me if it was a painting I paid to have done or if I used a camera filter to get the effect.
In short: it wouldn’t be hard.
Can I bring people with me? If I can… I’d hire some friends to look like an entourage of sorts.
Then I’d pretend to be a director, scouting locations for shooting a new movie. The hard part is that they could look up any lies pretty easily. So if I said I was a famous person, they’d look that person up on their phone and see it’s not me.
So I’d go with getting an entourage set up. Someone with good looking camera equipment, a professional looking personal assistant, a few ‘consultants’. Then I’d look around areas, talk to people, and make vague comments like “all i can say is that this is for a BIG upcoming Marvel movie.” And I’d have my ‘staff’ tell people something like “well, I can’t tell you who the director is, but… you’d know his name if you heard it. Check the news in about two weeks…” Then have them say “you can get a selfie, he’s a nice guy, check the official Marvel instagram in a few weeks and you’ll appreciate the picture a little more…”
Basically look important, be vague, and make them think you’re famous without giving them enough information to contradict it.
I mean that’s kinda easy.
Step 1 hire a bunch of people to be paparazzi
Dress pretty well and or stand out ish.
Pull up to an urban setting in a fancy car and have an entourage.
Profit.
I spend as much of my current money as I need on getting an entourage. Band bus with my picture on the side. Wikipedia page. Get dressed for the part. Then I just have it driven around the USA a couple of times.
Easy money.
Well, I can get people to pretend without paying them or pressuring them.
“Hey, can you guys pretend I am famous? I want to make a little tiktok video. I need some people to just act like I am a famous person.”
or
“I am making a youtube video trying to see how many people I can make think I am famous. Can you pretend and come ask for my autograph? Say ‘Oh my god! Its you!’ and ask for my picture? “
Anything like that is not pressure, note paying and I am not telling them about the challenge. If I get some willing volunteers, eventually other people will fall for it.
Some of these ideas need to be suggested to Mr. Beast
Walk up to random people in Vegas and after a bit thank them for not making a big deal about meeting me.
Do this at enough places people will fall in line and start believing. Maybe throw in something about studying the atmosphere for a potential casino game show or something.
I’ve been told I could easily pass for Chris Martin. I just have to learn to nail down the accent I guess.
Go to a high end restaurant. Pay the waitress to pretend I’m someone famous. Have her bring other waiters over for selfies.
Way back in the distant past of 2010, 3 friends and I did just this. We did some prep work first, made fake a website and MySpace pages (yes, MySpace, not Facebook) for our band. Fake band that is, none of us could play anything. We created a fake announcement that we were recording a new album, and we got some Sort-of-well-know producer on board. Then we went to a big nightclub in town, and paid for a private VIP area with bottle service.
We ended up convincing a huge amount of people in the nightclub we were famous, or would be very famous very soon, once our amazing new album dropped. We took pictures with more than 30 people, for sure. So, in 24 hours, without being to collaborate with anyone else, I think I might be able to make this happen.
And if anyone thinks this sounds familiar, yes, we got the idea from How I Met Your Mother. It was the Lorenzo Von Matterhorn play.
Chicka chicka yeah, my nickname in college was ‘McLovin’
Already done. Not that famous, not a trick, but just as myself.
Find a stage door for a performance with a large cast (maybe something like Lion King where the actors are less recognizable when they aren’t in costume) and manoeuvre myself so I look like I’m among the people trying to exit the stage door. Graciously sign anything that people are holding out to autograph, whether they’re holding it out to me or not.
If there are children, elderly people, people in wheelchairs, etc. among the autograph seekers, make a big point of warmly moving them to the front, making sure they get all the autographs and selfies they need and are generally safe and taken care of, all with choreography suggesting that I’m among the cast and want to make sure my fellow cast members take care of our more vulnerable autograph seekers.
Sure. I’m that girl from the movie Matilda. I was in Mrs. Doubtfire too.
Or, I once convinced dozens of children that I was an elf that worked for Santa.
There are numerous videos of people doing this in real life. Usually involves wearing sunglasses and some kind of obscuring clothing like a hat or hoodie, then having a “posse” of bodyguards and handlers helping you walk through an area. Extra layers of deception include things like getting out of a limo and hiring some paparazzi photographers to swarm you.
Do all that in LA and guarantee at least 30 people would believe you’re a star.
My favorite one is this dude who infiltrated a Joel Osteen event posing as Osteen himself. He got all the way to the stage!
He just looked enough like the real guy to make it work with some impersonation and acting.
Take out a loan. Hire PR team to set up and advertise a meet and greet event in a country like china or Japan. Have them concoct a celebrity background story as well. Hire around 20 people to act as super fans that go crazy when I’m sited. That would attract a crowd of people that just assume I’m some famous American. Take selfies with 30 of them. Profit.
I briefly had a Wikipedia page that I had made myself, and made up a ton of things I’d allegedly created and papers I had written.
Had mates come up to me in restaurants and bars to act like fans and direct people to the Wikipedia page when asked.
Worked for 3 days and then someone removed the page.
Got zero out of it but it was amusing at the time
I would pay friends and family to act like paparazzi, ask for picture and autographs lol
I mean I am a very minor celebrity so I’m pretty sure if I was dropped in a suitable location I could run this easily enough.
Eassssssy. A lot of people in Canada don’t know famous soccer players. All I have to do is have my wife run up to me in public and freak out over seeing this world famous soccer player. Photoshop a couple fake Google searches and have her show those to people. They all want my pic and I get 10 mil.
Im British so put on a shit American accent and tell everyone Im a famous celebrity on the good ol’ US of A. I’ll say Im a talk show host and you must know me, Im the guy that hit the big time because I embarrassed Trump and Im here to film a UK version of my show. The lefties around here will want to believe it so when I buy a round in a pub and tell them I can afford to as Im well paid that will be the final piece that convinces them.
Or just ell people over 30 Im one of the biggest youtubers in the world.
Easy
Easy.
I have a ‘familiar face’ I get told I look like a couple of celebrities all the time.
If I was to lean into it, yeah no problem.
As an aside: I met Chuck Liddell last time I was in Vegas. He also thought I was someone else.
I’ve been told several times I look like Jason Momoa.
Well, I’m a fair-skinned chinese indonesian. I went to a village in java once for doing community service. I often wear kpop-esque clothes and makeup and guess what… a bunch of kids asked me which (kpop) group I’m from 🤣 I only need to replicate it lmao. Maybe speak with a ‘cadel’ accent
I was in Hawaii during the Bachelor finale and I had 4 different women come up to me and my GF and ask if I was the guy from the show and where the girl was
People already think im a celebrity so it shouldn’t be hard. Apparently I look a lot like some dude from a reality TV show.
It’s interesting that everyone is going for movie celebs.. on a college campus, a famous writer or a Nobel Laureate would be big time celebrities.
I’m black so I just have to go to any Asian country and exist
Oh well you’d probably drop me off in the ocean and I’d drown. If you did drop me off somewhere with 30 people that spoke the same language as me, I guess I’d go the spiderman route
I would wear a suit, speak to random Americans (preferably from the South), and tell them I’m the Prime Minister of a European country.
If pushed, I would tell them I’m over there trying to gauge foreign support, and ask if there’s anything the government could do to ensure the needs of the people are met.
Go to Disney, sneak in a costume that is up to their standards for cast, or ‘borrow’ one from wherever they keep them, one of the full body ones like Mickey Mouse or Daffy Duck, and then just pretend I’m part of the cast.
Based on the metrics for success being selfies and autographs, it should work.
Get like ten people to flock around me paparazzi style, while a few other people scream for me.
I have enough people in my circle to pull it off.
I tell a bunch of people that I’m a TikTok microcelebrity. Nobody will care enough to fact check my statement.
Popular touristy area. Hire a crowd of 50-70 people to follow me around and act like I’m famous.
I’m a redhead so I reckon I’ll be able to do it. First step is being noticeable and standing out in a crowd so I think I’ll be fine.
Unless one of you decide to monkeypaw it and I’m dropped off at the annual redhead festival. Or Ireland.
So easy. Hire a camera crew and security and walk around some tourist spot, preferably in a foreign country acting like you’re a star.
When I was in Asia half the people I met thought I was some obscure celebrity. So yes.
Hi. It’s me: Santa.
Does convincing them that I USED to be famous count? If that counts, then I’m in.
Yes. I have been mistaken for country singer Colt Ford on several occasions. Once at an airport I was asked for autographs and got cussed at by an angry mom when I tried to tell her she was mistaken. Said I was a disappointment and I had lost a fan and she wasn’t going to let her boy listen to me any more. Sorry Colt.
Fully real story:
Pre-9/11, I left California and spent several months either in Arizona or Arizona/Oklahoma or .. something.
Anyway, prior to his trip, I had a friend group who would often go to movies and go out to In & Out or other places late at night to just chill.
When I returned, I was wearing yellow-tinted sunglasses and had a bit longer hair than normal (not long). My friends met me at the gate–yes they met me at the gate–so when I left the plane, I was immediately–and yes, immediately–confronted by my friends shouting “YESS!!! YESS!!!” and shoving a newspaper clipping of Hilary Duff in my face.
As we walked away, we were still talking about the newspaper clipping, handing it back and forth. A girl began to approach me, because lo and behold, Elton John was performing not too far in either location or time of my arrival. Not sure why anyone would assume Elton John would be flying Southwest, but there it is.
And also in church, one day in 2002, a young boy tugged on my arm and asked me if I was Spider-man.
I don’t think it would be too terribly difficult to figure out something.
Id show them real pics of myself.. they’d see that I was quite locally famous for some time
Show 100 people tell them my story.. then they would tell others about me confirming my famousness easy
I did this by accident once. So on purpose it would probably be easier.
Easy peasy. I just go to India or China with a few friends or even a small paid film crew, and many will think and believe I’m a famous foreign actor. They even want selfies over there just because I’m a foreigner, so convincing them I’m famous will be a breeze.