The 'original' contest where this image first came up is credited to the Smoldering Sofa
http://photoshopcontest.com/photoshop-contest/1001224/various-surfaces.html
The two images are not 100% identical, they are slightly offset, which may mean they were taken in a burst (2 or 3 together).
August 22 contest (credited to TheBC)
37622789bbb995b05c747523e9d0f92b61949a91228094.jpg
no EXIF information
October 9 contest (credited to ShootHerman)
334676403aeff30fd406354e3bd825502cf10b7243532.jpg
EXIF information:
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ1
Date taken: 2011-11-16 13:48:50
Date modified: 2013-05-08 11:53:52
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)
My best guess: TBC submitted both images, one got deleted from the queue due to repetition. An actual ShootHerman image was preselected for the SpeedChop, then the matrix glitched and the long random number assigned to the source matched the deleted image.
There appears to be a glitch in the SpeedChop contest image selection. Some time ago we had Reinman's stove repeating over and over.
Mods don't have too much access to the internal thingamajigs that run the site. Perhaps BillTV or Supak0ma can shed some light.
My backup guess: ShootHerman copy/pasted the source to his PSC folder and forgot about it. He 'found' it later and despite not remembering how he took the photo, submitted it as his own source.
My conspiracy theory guess: ShoootHerman and BTC are aliases and the accounts master has concocted and odd mystery theatre to bring some excitement to PSC.