Robert Montgomery typically spends his days playfully picking on guests as Silver Dollar City’s Deputy but recently dabbled as a Jason Kelce clone, creating a buzz in the Big Easy.
Football fans were doing a double take when 25 Jason Kelce lookalikes flocked to the French Quarter for the “Race to Find Jason Kelce,” just ahead of this year’s big game in New Orleans.
"It was such a fun adventure during The City’s off-season," says Robert, who also plays The Ghost of Christmas Past in the park’s production of A Dickens’ Christmas Carol. "I saw the casting call back in December and thought, why not? I’ve already got the beard!"
After submitting a video audition in early January, Robert got the call and found himself preparing for a role much different from his deputy duties.
“The whole experience was absolutely fantastic,” he beams. We all had to show up to a holding area for breakfast, then headed to hair and makeup to make us look as much like Jason as possible. They even cut my hair!”
All the lookalikes had bushy beards and were dressed in matching yellow letterman jackets and jeans.
“We were matching right down to our socks and shoes,” he laughs. “They wanted us to be as close as possible to the real Jason down to the smallest details.”
All 25 “Jasons” were spread out over an 18-block radius of the French Quarter. Five teams of two contestants were let loose in the Big Easy, but it wasn’t easy finding the real Jason with so many doppelgangers running around!
“When a contestant found us, we gave them a little football to keep with our number. I was #24 of 25. We could interact quickly with the fans, give them a chest bump, a catch phrase or a football snap. It was all just so much fun!”
During halftime of the race, the impersonators got together at the Cathedral and ran some plays for the camera, including the Philadelphia Eagles’ famous Brotherly Shove.
“We also put two teams together and pretended to run a play. They put me in as the running back in place of Saquon Barkley. And, no, I did not do a reverse hurdle,” he laughs.
After lunch, the Jasons went back out to their original spots for round two as teams continued to hunt for the real Jason! A mom-to-be from Texas who was 9 months pregnant and her husband found him first and won the grand prize, a night’s stay at the Superdome. It was then time for the fakes to meet the real deal!
“We all came together with Jason to congratulate the winners and take promo pictures. He was honestly the nicest guy—so down-to-earth and approachable. He shook our hands, took pictures and signed our letterman jackets. He’s definitely not an actor, so what you see on TV is the real him. He’s fun and energetic and doesn’t try to be what he’s not. I’ll remember this always even though I’m a Packers fan!”
As Public Relations Manager for the Silver Dollar City Company, she is eager to tap into her journalism background to hunt down “heart tugs” to write about—those stories that celebrate…
