Her name might sound like a vessel for a flower arrangement but 19 year old Crystal Vas in her first radio job sounds unbreakable behind the Drive show mic at Tamworth’s 92.9 FM.

She recently ran a ‘Big Brother’ style contest called Crystal’s Housemate Hunt to find someone who’d be compatible as a housemate.

The contest ran over two weeks, the first week taking nominations from people who think they could “Survive living in a house with Crystal.”

Explains Crystal, “As part of the first week we set up a pop up nomination booth out the front of a clients store in the main street in Tamworth.

“We also drove around in the station car telling people about the competition and handed out lollies – totally bribery!”

The second week she chose the four best nominations and had them come in for interviews in the boardroom and our panel of judges including Crystal and a couple of other announcers, Rebs and Tayla.

“We asked them very serious questions like when their last case of diarrhoea was and what they would do if they got home to find my cat mittens had an accident on the carpet,” says Crystal. 

Then came the toughest test yet, to separate the last two finalists in the grand final. They had to come into the studio and speak to Crystal’s mum live on the phone.

Says Crystal, “I think through the promotion the contestants quickly realised that living with me wouldn’t be much of a prize, haha!”

Still, the winner Rachelle wasn’t disappointed. She did manage to score two nights accommodation at Raffertys resort in Lake Macquarie.