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Turtlenecks and Blonde Wigs Take Over Washington Square Park for a Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes Lookalike Contest

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Few documentaries this fall have sparked as much conversation as ‘You Can See Everything’. Co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, the A24 film follows disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her partner Billy Evans in the period before her prison sentence. It hit theaters on October 16 and quickly became one of the most talked-about releases of the season.

New York has also developed a very specific way of celebrating internet obsessions. Washington Square Park has become a reliable stage for viral lookalike contests, drawing crowds eager to crown the city’s best doppelgängers of whoever happens to be dominating the cultural conversation.

That tradition reached a new level of strange on Sunday. As shared by Oliya Scootercaster, fans in turtlenecks and blonde wigs packed the park for a Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes lookalike contest, with the winners decided right in front of the cheering crowd.

Comedian Nicole Travolta took the Holmes crown, while Brooklyn music publicist Joe Sivick was named the best Fielder. Sivick later told the Daily Mail that the win meant everything to him.

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The event was organized by Maddy West and Katherine Gehring, who also spoke about the day in footage captured by Freedom News TV. The free contest kicked off at 1 p.m., with posters promising a $50 cash prize.

Dozens of contestants gathered near the iconic Washington Square arch, according to amNY. Holmes hopefuls donned blonde wigs and stared wide-eyed at onlookers, channeling her famously intense gaze and signature black turtleneck.

Fielder impersonators went for a different kind of accuracy. Many swung headphones around their necks and carried laptops, capturing the comedian’s awkward, deadpan energy.

Even the promotional poster leaned into the joke. Designed in a cut-and-paste collage style, it was signed “Liz and Nathan” and insisted, with a wink, that everything was 100 percent truthful.

The festivities didn’t end in the park. Organizers planned a ticketed afterparty at The Alligator in Williamsburg, a bar with a fitting connection to Fielder, since an early episode of his HBO series ‘The Rehearsal’ was filmed there.

Attendees were invited to party alongside the contestants, extending the day’s surreal mix of fandom and performance art well into the evening. The contest reflects the strange fascination surrounding ‘You Can See Everything’. Fielder has built a career on uncomfortable, meta comedy, while Holmes became one of the most scrutinized figures in modern business after the collapse of Theranos.

Her story has inspired plenty of pop culture before, including the role that earned Amanda Seyfried an Emmy. But Fielder’s involvement has given her a new kind of cultural moment, one that clearly resonates with internet-savvy New Yorkers.

Washington Square Park’s lookalike contests have become a viral sensation, and this latest edition proved the format still has plenty of life. Videos and photos of contestants posing and pleading their cases spread quickly online.

For fans of Fielder’s distinctive brand of awkward humor, it was the perfect real-world extension of his work. Whether the trend continues to expand remains to be seen, but New York has once again shown it loves a good doppelgänger showdown.

Which lookalike contest would you have entered in Washington Square Park?

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