What did a mistaken identity reveal about the real you?

Nothing is more awkward than seeing somebody you know... only to realize that it isn't the person you thought! Oof. But why do we react so viscerally to cases of mistaken identity? 

On this week's DNTO, we hear from all kinds of people who find that cases of mistaken identity can reveal a lot about who you truly are.

On the show:

Back in the early 1990s, Rhonda Riche was a serious music fan and attended some pretty rowdy concerts. But when she attended a show of alternative music legends, she realized that she was closer to her idols than she even realized... when someone mistook her for Pursuit of Happiness' frontman Moe Berg.

You'd think that somebody as important and recognizable as Justice Murray Sinclair, head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, wouldn't be mistaken for anyone else. Think again! Hear about the time he was confused with another respected guy: the late, great Elijah Harper.

When Delores Jensen bought herself a brand new Hyundai a few years ago, she was elated. It was the first brand new car she'd ever had in her life. So imagine her confusion when a bailiff came to repossess it, saying that she had been officially declared deceased by the bank. So how do you prove you're not a dead woman? 

Have you ever been mistaken for somebody else and decided to just go along with it? After a stylish group of people mistook Moe Thiessen for their friend at a local bar, he decided to just go with it! Suddenly he was partying all around the city with a big group of cool friends who adored him - or Travis, the guy they thought he was. For the first few hours it was fun! But then it started to go too far...

You'd think that having your first novel get mistaken for Stephen King's latest book would be a great boost to any writer's ego. But not so for Emily Shultz, who ended up with some terrible online reviews after angry readers mistook her 2006 novel 'Joyland' for Stephen King's 2013 'Joyland'. Hear how she ended up with the last laugh... by documenting how she spent her unexpected royalty cheques.

When Winnipeg's Dave Barber won a Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal, it was a proud moment for him... even though he wasn't the Dave Barber the premier of Manitoba was expecting that day.

After Jennifer Thompson-Cannino was raped as a college student, she identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker. He went to jail for 11 years, until he was exonerated by DNA evidence. They tell their story in the book: 'Picking Cotton'. (Originally aired June 4, 2011) 

Sook-Yin Lee has been mistaken at least twice for someone of a completely different cultural background from her Chinese Canadian roots. At thirteen she was mistaken for a particular young Puerto Rican, which added excitement to an otherwise dull family vacation to Disneyland, and more recently in a remote village in Senegal. 

So, despite our differences, what does that say about our overriding similarities? Here's a photo of Sook-Yin and her Senegalese doppelganger. 

C.D. Hermelin thought he would earn a little money doing something he loved when he first moved to New York. So he bought an old manual typewriter, wrote a sign saying 'Unique Short Stories while you Wait', and sat down on a bench on the High Line. But when a photo of him went viral, captioned 'you're not a real hipster until you take your typewriter to the park,' his creative endeavour took an unexpected turn. Find out how the hated hipster redeemed himself, and now writes more stories than ever!

Do you remember the hit 90s tune, Groove is in the Heart? When it came out, Nobu Adilman was excited to see a Japanese performer in the video. Then he got mistaken for the band's DJ and things got a little weird. 

Fiona and Sarah Carver are identical twins. And when they were in Grade 8, they pulled a switcheroo and tried to pull a fast one on their teachers. But they wound up getting schooled themselves.

Have you ever passed someone on the street and thought: 'HEY! I know that person! Are they on TV?' It's something home economist Mairlyn Smith has experienced once or twice in her life - because she appears on Canadian daytime TV all the time. But according to Marilyn, being recognized isn't always quite as glamorous as it sounds.