A personal trainer says he is regularly treated like a celebrity - because he is a spitting image of the Rock. Antonio Muratore even has the same tattoos as Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson. He says he is stopped on the street on a daily basis - and isn't always quick to reveal the truth.
Antonio, 54, say crowds gather for pictures with him wherever he goes - even when he is sunbathing at the beach. And he says the likeness has been "life-changing" for him. Antonio said: "It's an incredible situation to look like him. In general I'm quite a private person and I don't like a lot of attention - but I never tire of this because it makes people happy.
"I would do anything to meet him one day."
Antonio didn't notice the likeness between at first, he says. But, after it was pointed out, he started to see it - and more and more people started to approach him. Antonio, who is single, said: "It was about ten years ago when a friend first told me I looked like the Rock.
"Over the years people started to stop and ask me for pictures wherever I would go. It's been at a hotel, in restaurants, on the beach - it happens continuously.
"Once someone followed me down the road for 15 minutes. That was a bit stressful. But normally I'm always happy to take a picture.
"I feel very lucky to look like him because he is a great person, a champion in sport and in life." Antonio says he once went to watch a film starring the Rock - and was mobbed after it ended.
He said: "At the end of the movie everyone went out and just a few kids left. When the light went on the kids saw me and started to scream, 'The Rock! The Rock!".
"Everyone ran back into the cinema for a picture. It was a crazy situation."
Antonio, who works part-time as an actor, he went as far as to get arm tattoos to look like the Rock. He hoped that it would make him more likely to get acting roles as a body double.
But this wasn't the only impact - it meant he now gets stopped virtually everywhere he goes. Antonio, who has travelled all around the world for work, said he is often stopped outside hotels where he stays while abroad.
In particular, he says people come rushing up to him at the beach wherever he is - because they recognise his ink. He said: "When I am on the beach and people see my tattoos, everyone stops me and wants a picture.
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"Or when I am wearing my sunglasses. It happens continuously. I get treated like a celebrity all the way through summer."
Sometimes he'll confess he's not the real deal - but often he'll play along. He said: "I stand and pose for pictures all the time, I'm always happy to stop and take a picture.
"Sometimes even when they find out I'm not really him, they want a picture anyway and that's fine by me."
Antonio claims he was once cast to play The Rock's body double with major Hollywood film producer. But the dream was ruined by Covid and now he wants to thank him for having such a huge impact on his life.
Antonio said: "In personality I am a private person and I don’t like the attention. But when I get attention as the Rock it makes me happy.
"When people call me as his name and recognise me as his double I feel happy I look like somebody great. When I'm feeling bad, just when someone says, 'Hey look, it's The Rock' - and I am happy again."
Antonio said he'd love to challenge the former wrestler to a boxing match - and reckons he could give him a run for his money. He said: "I do Thai boxing and if I can fight him in that, I think I might have a chance. My mother thinks I would win!"
