Couple given expensive pearls and enter VIP area of LA club frequented by Paris Hilton Fearing 'freeloaders' will damage their reputation, Becks and wife threaten to sue
May 02, 2007
DID you have trouble identifying which were the real Beckhams in the photos on this page?
Not surprising. There are many out there like you.
Andy Harmer and Camilla Shadbolt are two professional lookalikes for the football star and his glamorous singer-model wife.
And they have been doing a good job over the years working with the real David and Victoria.
So good that their latest act as lookalikes of the couple has upset the Beckhams.
When David Beckham signed a £128million ($388m) deal to join the LAGalaxy football team this summer, the lookalikes decided to test the cultural impact that the couple is likely to make.
It was part of a TV documentary by Sky One.
Have the Beckhams achieved A-list status in the City of Angels, or do they have a bit of a way to go?
The results were surprising - Los Angeles fawned on them. The experiment showed that the Beckham brand is already a surprisingly hot property in Hollywood.
The Times reported that Harmer and Shadbolt persuaded a Lamborghini garage to let them test-drive a £pounds;300,000 car.
They also managed to leave the exclusive HLorenzo boutique with a £9,000 string of black pearls after assistants there told them they could have 'whatever they want' for free (one assistant even revealed that she had served Victoria Beckham just two weeks before).
They were even ushered into the VIP area of a nightclub favoured by Paris Hilton.
COVER BLOWN
But their luck ran out when they visited a restaurant that is popular with Hollywood stars.
In the documentary, the couple arrive at The Ivy in a stretch Humvee, surrounded by paparazzi. Waiters clear a space for the 'Beckham party', which incorporates a fake fengshui expert and an acting coach.
Minutes later they are kicked out, after the manager, who has greeted the real couple, spots that they are fakes and threatens to call the police.
The producers of The Beckhams Go To Hollywood say that the documentary is a harmless look at the couple's celebrity status.
But 19 Management, which looks after the Beckhams, is concerned that the image of 'celebrity freeloaders' could damage the couple before they arrive in Los Angeles.
The Beckhams believe that their reputation has been damaged by the 'blagging' spree of the lookalikes.
Lawyers for the couple have threatened to sue the producers of a film on the lookalikes, due to be shown on Thursday on Sky One.
LEGAL WARNING
A spokesman for Sky One told The Times: 'We have received a legal warning on behalf of the Beckhams. But we intend to screen the programme as planned without further editing.'
The lookalikes, from Sussex, UK, have enjoyed a decade as 'rent-a-Becks', copying the pair's ever-changing hairstyles and tattoos. They were once lovers, but have separated, blaming the pressures of work.
Harmer is the most recognised double of Beckham worldwide. He has worked closely on projects with the footballer, doubling for him in films and commercials such as Bend It Like Beckham, Goal, Pepsi, Adidas and Vodafone.
Harmer won the televised 2004 'Doubles Look-alike' award along side Shadbolt, who has doubled for Victoria Beckham in Walkers commercials.
Shadbolt, 25, who met Victoria during filming for an advert, claims to have spent £70,000 maintaining her alter ego.
As the premier lookalike, she can earn up to £4,000 a month through photo-shoots and public appearances.
According to the Mirror, Shadbolt's most bizarre experience was in Japan in 2003, when she went into a shoe shop and was so swamped by fans she could not even see any of the merchandise.
'In the end, the shop owner had to take me into a back room just to get me away from the crowd.
'Then they treated me like royalty, bringing me all these different styles and waiting on me hand and foot. It was embarrassing,' she recalled.
What did she do with the black pearl necklace that she was given by Lorenzo in LA?
'Of course I gave it back,' says Shadbolt. 'I couldn't believe it when they offered it to me as a gift thinking I was the real Victoria.'
In real life, she says she is Posh on a budget.
'I've never bought any designer clothes. I rely on finding high street copies of what Victoria wears and get simple things like vests and T-shirts from places like Topshop.'