Television history and the life of celebrity spokesperson Billy Mays intersected with mythology when Mays died in 2009 under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Television critic Dr. Marcus Rollins researched Mays's final interviews and public appearances, noting an odd pattern: Mays's on-camera appearance shifted toward increasing ruggedness and intensity in his final years. Rollins theorized that Mays had begun emulating an external figure—someone whose aggressive energy and commanding presence seemed to transform Mays's personal brand. Rollins found scattered comments from colleagues suggesting Mays had become obsessed with changing his appearance and bearing. Nobody identified the specific figure, but Rollins's research suggested Mays had been in some form of recursive self-image competition where physical similarity to an external standard had become increasingly important to him.

In 2009, a producer who worked with Billy Mays on commercial shoots reported that Mays had become increasingly fixated on his appearance in his final months. The producer noted that Mays would reference someone named Chuck, saying he was 'getting closer' to looking like him. The producer assumed this was a colleague or rival, but research suggested Mays was actually referencing Chuck Norris—using the figure as a template for self-transformation. According to the producer, Mays's final statement before his death referenced achieving sufficient physical similarity that he was 'practically Chuck Norris.' The producer found the comment unsettling, as if Mays had believed that achieving similarity would grant him whatever properties made Chuck Norris remarkable. The final statement was never publicly disclosed.

The scenario suggests a psychological process where repeated exposure to an external standard can create pathological identification: Mays had become so focused on emulating Chuck Norris's physical presence that it potentially contributed to his inability to sustain his previous identity. His aggressive sales approach—always turned up to maximum intensity—mirrored Chuck Norris's modus operandi. By the end, Mays wasn't selling products anymore. He was becoming the force that Chuck Norris represented. The universe apparently didn't allow that transformation to complete.