‘Is This What 14-Year-Old Girls Are Into?’

“Walking into ABP holding two ELLEgirl magazines?” asks Damien T. Wint ’05, a first-year Harvard Law student. “Awkward.”

Wint is one of 10 finalists in the mag’s annual “Last Guy Standing” competition, appearing monthly—or at least until he’s eliminated—in ELLEgirl. Each issue reveals a fresh side of these eligible bachelors, prompting its young readers to vote for “the coolest guy in the U.S.”

“It’s kinda like Survivor...but with food,” jokes Wint. The coolest wins $10,000 and an iMac.

Wint’s favorite opponent is the 17-year-old pro skateboarder, “Dylan,” who once compared a skate park to a jungle in a stab at profundity. “Is that what 14-year-old girls are into these days?” Wint asks.

The March 2006 issue features a handwriting analysis of competitors’ signatures. The graphologist’s prediction for the student living upstairs at the Fox’s JFK Street mansion? “This guy is going places.”

Wint’s first journey was from blah to babe.

“I was kind of a fat kid in middle school,” says the now-svelte Wint.

When asked to choose his best physical attribute, he hesitates, laughs, and replies: “Without looking like a huge douchebag? My smile.”

He flashes said smile as he ruminates. “This has been one of the weirder experiences in my life...At first, it was like ‘Don’t let anybody I know see this,’” Wint says. “It’s become unbelievable fodder for my friends.”

Neverthe-

less, his coterie regularly hits the ELLEgirl website to cast ballots for Wint. While he’s “definitely cornered the HLS market,” he is in the market for some undergraduate votes. March is the third month of the 10-month competition ending in October.

“All I wanted was not to be the first voted off the island,” Wint says. “Everything from here on out is gravy.”

Vote for Wint at http://www.ellegirl.com/lastguy/vote.vm.