Startling photo of woman with her 'doppelganger' spawns lookalikes

What are the odds of meeting someone who looks exactly like you?

For American teen Santana Gutierrez, a serendipitous encounter with a lookalike has spawned several more 'clones' as the magic of the internet went into overdrive searching for other 'doppelgängers'.

As it turns out, the 17-year-old was at a shopping centre in San Diego when she was approached by an Isobel, who was trying to raise public awareness about an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) Save the Children.

[embed]https://twitter.com/santanaa_g/status/779500929053659136[/embed]

Gutierrez was startled at Isobel's uncanny resemblance, and vice versa. Gutierrez later tweeted a photo of them, attracting over 20,000 retweets.

It wasn't long before Twitter users found more lookalikes, such as an Ally Holt, and American actresses Samantha Boscarino and Auli'i Cravalho.

[embed]https://twitter.com/LexiMaurins/status/816458305568669696[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/inevitablesivan/status/816784504765419521[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/seececerun/status/816463972648022016[/embed]

Netizens were dumbfounded by the resemblances.

"Someone needs to get to the bottom of this," @Dory declared on Twitter.

[embed]https://twitter.com/Dory/status/817061103989649409[/embed]

Many netizens also commented that Gutierrez and Isobel could pass off as twins.

[embed]https://twitter.com/girlposts/status/816252814699667456[/embed]

Gutierrez told BuzzFeed News that she showed the photos to her father on the urging of netizens, who then reassured her that the lookalikes were purely coincidental.

The student at University of California, San Diego, said that she plans to contact the rest of her 'clones' for a gathering, or even coordinating their outfits for a photo.

[embed]https://twitter.com/daniellaSht_/status/816609733150814208[/embed]

Will the real Slim Shady, please stand up?

grongloh@sph.com.sg