British Teenage Benedict Cumberbatch Lookalike Unwittingly Goes Viral In China

Tyler Mitchell does look like Cumberbatch and Chinese fans can't get enough of him, but he's not so keen on them.

Tyler Michell, a 16-year-old from Norfolk, looks quite a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch.

instagram.com

In fact, despite the age difference (The Sherlock star is 37), they look very similar. Because of this he now has nearly 12,000 followers on Instagram.

instagram.com

This has captured the attention of Chinese Sherlock fans, many of whom are infatuated with Cumberbatch, as the pics continue to be shared on Sina Weibo, the Chinese Twitter.

Some of Mitchell's posts on Instagram have attracted more than 4,000 comments - many from Chinese admirers.

He captioned this one: "Watching myself on TV" while Cumberbatch was on Top Gear.

instagram.com

The admiration is unrequited, however: three days ago Mitchell told his Chinese commenters to leave him alone.

instagram.com

Update: The picture above appears to have been deleted, but it was a text message asking Chinese followers to stop leaving messages on his Instagram pictures.

Needless to say, this didn't go down well with the Chinese Sherlock fanbase. One person wrote: "You wanted to be famous and the Chinese followers made it. Everything has double sides… It's just what u need to pay for being famous."

He tends to tag everything he posts with #sherlock, just to underline his resemblance.

instagram.com

Which, at times, is uncanny.

instagram.com

He sometimes finds things with "Benedict" written on them to underline the point.

instagram.com

But really he's just an average 16-year-old guy.

instagram.com

Who happens to look like an actor who's very famous in China.

instagram.com