An annual spelling bee held in the US has been brought to its knees by eight spellers who were too savvy for any word thrown their way.
#speller5 Rishik Gandhasri spelled the word ‘auslaut’ correctly #spellingbee #C in BeePlayAlong
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2019
#speller93 Erin Howard from @huntsvillecity spelled the word ‘erysipelas’ correctly #spellingbee #B in BeePlayAlong @HSVk12
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2019
#speller132 Saketh Sundar from @HCPSS spelled the word ‘bougainvillea’ #spellingbee #B in BeePlayAlong @HoCo_library
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2019
#speller307 Shruthika Padhy spelled the word ‘aiguillette’ correctly #spellingbee #A in BeePlayAlong
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2019
The eight co-champions spelled the final 47 words correctly in their historic walk-off victory, going through five consecutive perfect rounds.
“Champion spellers, we are now in uncharted territory,” bee pronouncer Jacques Bailly told them in announcing the decision to allow up to eight winners.
“We do have plenty of words remaining on our list. But we will soon run out of words that will possibly challenge you, the most phenomenal collection of super spellers in the history of this competition.”
He was not lying. The bee held three more rounds after that, and no one missed a word or even appeared to struggle.
#speller354 Sohum Sukhatankar spelled the word ‘pendeloque’ correctly #spellingbee #D in BeePlayAlong
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2019
#speller407 6th grader Abhijay Kodali from @lewisvilleisd spelled the word ‘palama’ correctly #spellingbee #C in BeePlayAlong @mckamyms
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2019
#speller427 Christopher Serrao spelled the word ‘cernuous’ correctly #spellingbee #B in BeePlayAlong @RMS_VIKINGS @LehighValleyPA
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2019
#speller462 Rohan Raja from @thecityofirving spelled the word ‘odylic’ correctly #spellingbee #B in BeePlayAlong @dallas_sports
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2019
The winners, who dubbed themselves “octo-champs”, were: Rishik Gandhasri, Erin Howard, Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Sohum Sukhatankar, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao and Rohan Raja.
From 2014-2016, the bee ended with co-champions.
In 2017 and last year, the bee had a written tiebreaker test of spelling and vocabulary that would be used to identify a single champion if necessary.
It did not turn out to be needed, and bee officials decided the test was too burdensome and got rid of it.
