The mystery surrounding the identity of “Celebrity Number 6” occupied more than 40,000 people on Reddit for over 4 years. Now, one of the biggest puzzles on the internet seems to be solved.
What was this puzzle about? The identity of “Celebrity Number 6” posed a challenge to the online community for 4 years. It all started in January 2020 with a post by the Finnish Reddit user TonstaH.
In 2008, she purchased a piece of fabric featuring numerous famous celebrities from the early 2000s. The user wanted to harness the power of the internet to identify all the depicted celebrities.
While most stars were relatively easy to identify, “Celebrity Number 6” remained a mystery — until now.
The identity of the WoW nerd from the legendary “South Park” episode was also long unknown:
Over 40,000 people wanted to uncover the secret
Why is this so special? The search for “Celebrity Number 6” engaged tens of thousands of people over the years. A subreddit dedicated to the search has over 40,000 members. On TikTok, videos about Celebrity Number 6 garnered several hundred thousand views.
It was not only about identifying the depicted individuals but also about pinpointing the exact photo that was used for the fabric.
Featured were:
- Model Adriana Lima with a photo from 1999
- Josh Holloway with a photo from 2004
- Once again Adriana Lima, this time from 2004
- Jessica Alba from 2007
- Travis Fimmel, photographed in 2003
- Ian Somerhalder with a picture from 2005
- Orlando Bloom from 2003
To solve the mystery of Number 6, users contacted the designers of the fabric, utilized image searches, artificial intelligence, sought help from influencers, and even scoured the stock photo site Getty Images (via Reddit).
One post shows how the celebrity images fit onto the fabric:
However, for Number 6, the community could not even agree on whether it was a man or a woman. Names like River Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, as well as Kristen Stewart, Fillippa Hamilton, and Evangeline Lilly were discussed.
But despite many similar pictures being found, no one could determine the exact photo that was used for the fabric.
Resourceful Reddit sleuths solve the puzzle
So who was it? Behind Number 6 was the Spanish model Leticia Sardá, which a Reddit user by the name of “StefanMorse” apparently discovered. In a post on Reddit, he explains that he has been researching “Lost Media” for 2 years. These are media items that are presumed to no longer exist: they are “lost”.
However, the person who found the exact photo was another user named “IndigoRoom.” After the model’s name was mentioned, IndigoRoom found the photographer of a magazine cover that at least resembled Number 6.
The Reddit user then contacted the photographer of this cover, who indeed remembered the model and provided the original photo (via Reddit). Apparently, the image was used without the photographer’s consent.
The model herself seems to have little online presence, which certainly made the search harder.
The final comparison of all featured celebrities:
What happens now? Many members of the community are asking themselves this now. There are several posts in the subreddit where users wonder what they should do with their lives now. At least: In the subreddit “Lost Media,” numerous mysteries are still waiting to be uncovered.
However, some users are still not entirely sure if the search is really over. After all, with artificial intelligence, a lot is possible these days. Someone has even ordered the magazine in which the photo was originally supposed to have been published to make sure it isn’t a forgery. If it were up to one person, that wouldn’t be too bad: Bill Gates explains why he believes false information spread by an AI like ChatGPT is not so bad
