Olivia Dunne Humorously Judges ‘Paul Skenes Lookalike Contest’ for MLB Opening Day

And honestly, who better to make this call?

Olivia Dunne and Paul Skenes | Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Fanatics / Leah King/Diamond Images via Getty Images

Thursday, March 26, officially marked Opening Day for Major League Baseball, and Olivia Dunne was on hand to celebrate in style—and to judge a very important contest.

In case you missed it, the content creator shared a humorous video on Instagram in which she judged a “Paul Skenes lookalike contest.” And honestly, given that Dunne has been dating the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher since 2022, who better to make that call?

Dunne meets four Skenes “lookalikes”

“So much fun on set for Opening Day:),” the retired NCAA gymnast captioned the clips. “There’s no place like home! ⚾️ @mlb.” To start the video, Dunne was held up by four potential Pauls as she introduced the contest. Dressed in a square-neck black tank tucked into dark-wash, bootcut jeans, Dunne walked down the line, asking each entrant something about Skenes to see who could best embody the 2025 Cy Young Award winner.

The first lookalike was “too excited” when asked to reenact how the pitcher would react to hearing he won an award, while the second guessed his height incorrectly. The third possible Paul mixed up his sports when asked about pitching, referring to the “end zone,” leaving the fourth and final entrant as the only remaining option, with Dunne crowning him the winner.

As digital confetti rained over the group, a photo of Skenes appeared on the screen with a “quote” from the pitcher humorously reading, “‘I approve’ - Paul Skenes, probably.”

Fans, family and friends can’t get enough of Dunne and Skenes

The video has already been viewed over 415,000 times at the time of this article’s publication, with plenty of Dunne’s fans, family members and famous friends stopping by the comment section to laugh along with the couple.

“Opening day!! 🙌🙌,” the content creator’s mother, Kat Dunne, wrote. Her sister, Julz Dunne, also jokingly added, “67th like.”

“All look like winners to me!” One fan cheered, with another adding, “Happy Skenes day to all that celebrate.”

Dunne, Skenes and Opening Day

Both Dunne and Skenes have been more than ready to take on Opening Day. In the lead-up to this week, the content creator has shared plenty of clips from Skenes’s time at Spring Training, and on March 19, the Pirates announced that Skenes would be their starter via a cheeky post on X (formerly Twitter) simply stating “Duh.”

Skenes will pitch his first game of the season against the New York Mets; however, if he needs a replacement, looks-wise, to stand in for any reason, Dunne certainly found him a few options!

---