The contestants included six twenty-somethings that applied through a write-in contest: Krishtine de Leon is a local hip-hop magazine editor from San Francisco, CA; Peter Maiden, an Australian college student at UC Berkeley; Tiq Milan, a queer poet and freelance journalist from Brooklyn; Russell Morse, a former juvenile delinquent turned reporter for a local San Francisco newspaper; Krystal Ann Simpson from Salinas with a love for classic rock; and Colin Stutz, a 20-year-old University of Southern California student from Oregon.
It was speculated that her extensive understanding of hip-hop music and culture and her ability to turn in usable, relevant material was what catapulted her over the top.
Krishtine de Leon became a full-time artist under the stage name Rocky Rivera and has released multiple music projects over the years.
Krystal Ann Simpson currently splits her time between Los Angeles and New York designing, modeling, and writing for her social commentary blog WhatisRealityAnyway.com.
[3] Colin Stutz returned to Los Angeles to complete his junior year at USC and work as the editorial assistant at Filter Magazine.