Redditors Solve the Olympics’ Empty Seat Problem with the Addition of a Cast of Colorful Characters

If you’ve been watching the 2012 London Olympics, you may have noticed something in the background of the fierce competition and compelling personal stories – the lack of spectators.

Some competitions (most notably swimming and gymnastics) have been plagued by an empty seat issue, one that is clearly visible to everyone watching coverage around the globe.

Well, some creative redditors decided to fix the problem after the fact. Thanks to a post in the subreddit r/photoshopbattles, many of those empty seats have officially been filled – by some fo your favorite characters from the internet and beyond. Little by little, they added famous people to the seats, eventually producing this amazing gif. See how many characters you can spot:

Despite the empty seats, 2.1 million spectators have attended the first three days of the Games. Olympics organizers say that around 90% of ticket holders have shown up since Friday.

Then what’s with the empty seats?

Apparently, a combination of issues. Whether it be dignitaries that didn’t show up, unsold tickets allocated to different countries, or foreign ticket agencies holding tickets back in order to sell them for a huge profit later – hundreds of thousands of tickets remain unaccounted for.

Good thing, otherwise I don’t think Sad Keanu would have been able to attend.

[h/t @mattpicasso]