Very tempting, but I could be her grandad! I
T was an offer in my email box that some might find too good to refuse: “Denis, do you want to date Kylie Jenner’s lookalikes?”
One drawback was that I didn’t know who Kylie Jenner was.
An online search showed me a very attractive young lady who is an American television personality, sister of Kim Kardashian, 19 years old and lives in Los Angeles. Oo-er, mother. The other drawbacks were that I’m married, old enough to be her grandfather and live a long way from LA.
Tom Livingstone, the chap making the invitation, is doing so on behalf of Badoo, that claims to be the world’s biggest and safest dating network.
The potential dates are, as he says, lookalikes of the stars, rather than the real thing, so they could be a lot closer to home.
I have a friend who is online dating at the moment but not with much success. He has exchanged photographs and messages with a young lady in Leeds.
As he was about to set off to meet her for the first time, she sent him a text cancelling: She said she had to stay home and do the dusting.
I bet a Kylie Jenner lookalike wouldn’t make an excuse like that. Even if she lived in Leeds.
Categorising potential romantic partners as celebrity lookalikes uses photographic face recognition to provide the type you like.
“Date people who look just like your favourite celebrity,” says Badoo.
If you have a passion for Benedict Cumberbach you can click his link and find 748 chaps with long faces. Emma Watson has 87 lookalikes. Well, sort of. Some are more lookalike than others.
All types are available. Ed Sheeran, that ordinary looking lad-next-door not surprisingly has 1,405 ordinary lookalikes. And for those with a strange sense of attraction, dates are also available for Boris Johnson, Nicola Sturgeon and Jeremy Corbyn types.
Ones that might have more appeal include Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Robbie Williams, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Mary Berry – yes, Mary Berry - although recognition has to be in the eye of the beholder because many are less than spitting images.
Still, it’s a fun way to find a soulmate. You can download your photograph and see what star’s category you fit to add to the mix.
Mind you, I’ve just used the website catfly.com to find the celebrity that’s my doppelganger and it says I’m a dead ringer for Johnny Depp.
Suits me, although I doubt Mr Depp would be impressed. You have been warned.