Jon Stewart Shocked His Staffer Won A Pedro Pascal Lookalike Contest
The fake Pedro Pascal may be as charming as the real Pedro Pascal.
On Tuesday, The Daily Show shared a behind-the-scenes clip to its X account in which Jon Stewart revealed to fans that the winner of a New York-based Pedro Pascal lookalike contest was George Gountas — who happens to be the lighting designer for The Daily Show.
After inviting Gountas on stage, who looks like he could be a long-lost member of Pascal's family, Stewart made a confession.
'I've never noticed he looks like Pedro Pascal,' Stewart admitted, before showing a photo of what Gountas typically looks like in the office, which looks less like Pascal, but still very Pascal-esque.
'How did you do this?' Stewart asked Gountas.
Gountas then launched into a very funny explanation as to how he went from 'Pedro No. 5' during a silly contest on Sunday to its ultimate winner.
Gountas explained that a fellow Daily Show staffer noticed fliers for the contest last week. The contest was held at Son Del North, a Mexican restaurant in the lower east side, and the prize for the winner was $50 and a year's supply of free burritos, according to local news station FOX 5 New York.
The co-owner of the eatery, chef Annisha Garcia, told People she was inspired to create the contest after coming across an interview with Pascal in which he said that there isn't any 'good Mexican food in New York City.' Gountas went on to tell Stewart about the contest, who was only mildly interested, and completely forgot about it. That was until he mentioned it to his wife, Jenny, just two days before the contest — and Jenny told Gountas he was absolutely doing it.
Contesting whether Gountas liked it or not, Jenny enlisted the help of a neighbor, who was a stylist, in order to pin down Pascal's look.
'And I showed up on Father's Day — you were supposed to pre-sign up, I did not sign up,' Gountas said. 'I rolled up, and I was like, 'Yo, I'm here.' And they're like, 'You're going to win.''
And he did.
The winner of Pedro Pascal lookalike contest in New York City
📹 jameskleinmann | instagram pic.twitter.com/cSoX9OCq9X
— Pedro Pascal Daily (@pascalarchive) June 15, 2025
@pascalarchive/X/jameskleinmann / Via x.com
Later on in his discussion with Stewart, Gountas eventually revealed that his wife had an ulterior motive in her insistence that he enter the Pedro pageant — and it's that she wanted to use Gountas' 15 minutes of fame to meet the real Pascal.
So, Gountas decided to be a good hubby and shared his wife's request on camera in hopes that Pascal would receive the message.
'Hey Pedro, this is Pedro No. 5 from New York,' Gountas began. 'It would be a great, great, great gift if you could meet my wife, Jenny. It would mean the world to her. We need to make this happen.'
The winner of the Pedro Pascal lookalike contest is also The Daily Show's lighting designer, George Gountas! #AfterTheCut pic.twitter.com/PTrVURVnLS
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 17, 2025
Although it's currently unclear if Pascal is even aware of this whole fiasco, fans of the Daily Show were blown away by how much Gountas does look like the Last of Us star. See their comments below.
whoa...seriously? I almost feel like that is Pedro Pascal and they're punking us. Anyway Pedro has to meet Jenny he just has to!
— Nice4What (@mizztotal) June 18, 2025
@mizztotal/X / Via x.com
@dailyshow should change their intro to say "now featuring pedro pascal on camera 2"
— Lucas Lyons (@lucaslyonsart) June 18, 2025
@lucaslyonsart/X / Via x.com
Pretty amazing!!! He's got the body language dialed in.
— Wear your masks (@tonyver45) June 18, 2025
@tonyver45/X / Via x.com
He's got the mannerisms down! If that's not him trying to do that, it's even more eerie
— j🍥 (@Noteless) June 17, 2025
@Noteless/X / Via x.com
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