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Embarrassing or excellent? Dad spoofs selfie taken by son

One father who took a selfie to recreate a photo his son snapped of himself and a friend has found his spot-on spoof, which replicates even the smallest details, going viral.It started as a challenge. Peri Anderson of Ottawa, Ontario, read a story that his 20-year-old son, Joshua, posted on Facebook about a dad recreating the selfies taken by his children.“I commented on his link that I should d

One father who took a selfie to recreate a photo his son snapped of himself and a friend has found his spot-on spoof, which replicates even the smallest details, going viral.

It started as a challenge. Peri Anderson of Ottawa, Ontario, read a story that his 20-year-old son, Joshua, posted on Facebook about a dad recreating the selfies taken by his children.

“I commented on his link that I should do this to you and he said, ‘Yeah? Go ahead. I don’t know who would be more embarrassed — you or me.’ So I took it as a challenge,” Anderson told TODAY.com.

@TODAYshow+#Orangeroom+The+wife+and+I+gave+it+a+shot+last+weekend.+How+does+it+rate?+pic.twitter.com/la47BCpMnj

—+Peri+Anderson+(@perianderson)+April+23,+2014+

Using one of his son's Facebook pictures as a guide, Anderson recruited his wife, his son's stepmom, for the project and went to work. The result is hilarious, if not precise, down to a floral tattoo and similar facial expressions.

“We took about seven or eight shots but it didn’t take us long to find one that matched pretty good,” Anderson said.

After showing the picture to his son, who found it funny, Anderson posted the snapshot last Friday on his Facebook page, and then to Reddit. The photo then spread quickly through Imgur, where it has received more than two million views. One fan even morphed both images into a GIF.

Anderson said his son was impressed by how quickly the picture went viral.

“We did this in a mocking tone, but in a loving way. It wasn’t to be mean or embarrass him with his friends, and he took it that way. He wasn’t mad at us at all,” he said.

Neither was the young woman in the original photo, Sammy Houle, a close friend and former roommate of his son's.

“Nobody was embarrassed at the end, so it’s all good,” he said.

Follow TODAY.com writer Eun Kyung Kim on Google+ or on Twitter.