Veronica Penny wants this too much. Maybe she spent too much time studying, worrying, stressing out about the Bee? I want her to go away and discover art and literature, nature and music. Or at least Beiber or Bella and Edward. Anything as long as she learns to relax before college.
11:10 am/2:10 pm: The spellers have been on stage for over 4 hours. Do they not get a bathroom break? Just curious...
Joining David Phan who went out on ocypode, Grace Remmer falls down on casquetel (a light open helmet without beaver or visor). I like how, once she hears the ding, she says brightly, “Thank you everybody!” She’ll be back next year, I’m sure.
Lily Jordan is back up. Her brothers are holding hands, dying with tension. They hug and pump their fists like this is a football game when their big sister spells dolichopodous.
Dakota, Nabeel and Siram sail through by easily spelling tough words. Arvind spells epigonism at lightning speed and then rushes back to his seat.
I think we might be about to lose Nicholas Rushlow on caffeol…
AND WE DO! WE DO! HE IS GONE!!! SHOCKING!
It was just stated that for every speller from here on out, if they spell their word correctly, they are automatically in the tonight’s finals. Here we go:
Joanna Ye gets into the finals hyoptrichosis (a congenital deficiency of hair). My money is still on her.
We lose Anahita on boudin. She was guessing and her disappointment is all over her face. I'm not sure I like the lady in the kiss 'n cry area who takes their hands and rubs their backs as if she knows them. The kids stare at her, wondering why this stranger is acting like their moms and when they can get away from her. It's awkward.
Sukanya sails through to the finals on thalassocracy. Narahari struggles with ceratorhine and is out!
Mashad has movie star eyes. I want him to star in his own kiddie action movies. He’s the Brad Pitt of spelling. And…wait. The judges stop everything to discuss the word: melittologist (an entomologist specializing in the study of bees). Maybe they too were mesmerized by his eyes. And he spells it correctly and is in the finals!
Last speller in the round is Samuel Estep. I love that he looks exactly like a young BBC Bailly. Certiorari (a write issuing out of a superior court to call up the records of an inferior court or a body acting in a quasi judicial capacity) is his word. And he is in the finals!
We have 13 finalists! Laura Newcombe, Veronica Penny, Dhivya Murugan, Lily Jordan, Dakota jones, Nabeel Rahman, Sriram Hathwar, Arvnd Mahankali, Prakash Mishra, Joanna Ye, Sukaya Roy, Mashad Arora, and Samuel Estep.
I like this Bee. This Bee that takes place exclusively on ESPN. No controversy, no stopping a round to deal with the demands of prime time network TV. Just spelling. Pure and simple. Okay, nobody fainted this year. But we still have the finals...
