NYC dad dragged to Pedro Pascal lookalike contest — and wins it

New York Post

14 hours ago

This Mandalorian earned his bounty.
A Brooklyn dad was dragged by his family to a look-alike contest for actor Pedro Pascal on Sunday — and ended up winning it.
George Gountas took home $50 — and a year's supply of burritos — for being the closest ringer to Pascal — the star of series including the 'Star Wars' spin-off 'The Mandalorian' and 'Game of Thrones' — at the Lower East Side's Son Del North Mexican restaurant.
4 George Gountas of Brooklyn is flanked by admirers as he wins the Pedro Pascal look-alike contest on the Lower East Side on Sunday.
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4 The real Pascal is a hot commodity in Hollywood these days.
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'It started when the 'Game of Thrones' came out the first time — that's when we first heard it,' Gountas' wife, Jenny Gania, said of people noticing her hubby's likeness to the 50-year-old Chilean-born actor, who famously starred as bounty hunter Din Djarin in 'The Mandalorian.'
'Then some kids started noting it, too, so I was like, when we saw this [contest], I was like, 'It's Father's Day. You have to go. It's going to be your Father's Day treat,' ' Gania said she told her husband. 'It's funny, because he's not on social media at all. But now he's going to be everywhere.'
Gountas of Greenpoint edged out nearly 30 other people for the title.
Restaurant chef and co-owner Annisha Garcia said the inspiration for the Manhattan contest came from Pascal's famous 2023 quip that there was no decent Mexican food in the Big Apple.
4 Gountas celebrates his victory, which includes a year's supply of burritos.
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'I'm, 'So sorry, but there's no Mexican, good Mexican food in New York?' ' Garcia said. 'And we were like, 'There is, and we are here.' '
Co-owner Wim Shih said the whole idea behind the contest was to bring a smile to folks during troubled times.
'There's just so much sadness in the world right now, and we wanted to be a bit of sunshine today amidst all that,' Shih said.
The wannabe-Pascals who showed up for the contest included one participant sporting a t-shirt that read, 'Protect the Dolls and all Immigrants' — a play on the slogan, 'Protect the Dolls,' that the actor popularized to support his transgender sister, Lux Pascal.
4 Contestants run the gamut Sunday.
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Pascal has earned wide acclaim for his roles, which also have included Oberyn Martell in the hit series 'Game of Thrones' and Joel Miller in 'The Last of Us.'
Sunday's event is the latest celebrity look-alike competition in the five boroughs since a Timothee Chalamet contest in Washington Square Park in October — with the actor himself making an appearance at the event.