No, the above headline is not from The Merchant.

What started as a quick little joke unexpectedly turned into a time on TV for Mount Carmel health teacher Julius Henry.

On January 20th, 2026, Mr. Henry attended a Caleb Williams look-a-like contest held at The Wiener’s Circle in Chicago. While Mr. Henry was under the impression that the event was quick and would not involve too many people, that thought was proven wrong when news outlets and many contestants showed up.

Mr. Henry first heard about the event through some family and friends and was encouraged by them and some students who have long seen a resemblance between him and the Chicago Bears quarterback. After taking some time to think about it, he thought why not.

“I just figured I’d show up, see what it was about, and head home,” Mr. Henry said. “It was a ten-minute walk from my gym, so I decided to just go.”

When he arrived about fifteen minutes early, there were very few people there. Only a few contestants, including the eventual winner, were all standing in a small crowd. With the impression that the event would be quick, that soon changed once camera crews and more people started to fill in.

Contestants were brought to the back of The Wiener’s Circle which then led to the camera crews interviewing the contestants, including Mr. Henry.

“I wasn’t expecting to be interviewed at all,” he said. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to be on TV.”

The full experience ended up lasting way longer than Mr. Henry expected, turning turned into a near two-hour event on a Tuesday night. Despite that, the event was full of good vibes and lots of people.

Mr. Henry said there was a great turnout and even brought up how some contestants, including himself, took a picture recreating the viral Spiderman meme where they all point at each other.

Although Mr. Henry got robbed in the final decision of who looked most like Caleb Williams (Trenton Harrison from Bourbonnais was chosen instead),. he had an amazing time there and had a cool experience being able to be on tv being interviewed by the news.

Faculty, students, and family all saw Mr. Henry on TV, and he said that it was pretty cool experience, especially after assuming it was going to be a quick event.

Despite not winning, Mr. Henry said he couldn’t complain at all and that the day was great.

Many at MC feel one of their own still should have won the contest. Regardless of what any North Side restaurant thinks, Mount Carmel has its own Caleb Williams.