Great Australian Spelling Bee

S02:E08 - Episode 8

It is Finals Time on the GREAT AUSTRALIAN SPELLING BEE and our TOP 6 enter the Spelling Arena, excited to see what today’s challenge will be. It’s SUPERWORD and with six buzzers in place it means that this will be the first time the spellers compete in a challenge as individuals. SUPERWORD is a grid of 9 letters and the aim of the game is to find words of five letters or more, then spell that word correctly to score a point. Each word must include the letter D that’s in the centre square. Make a mistake and you’re locked out until the next round. Should a speller identify and correctly spell the SUPERWORD - a word that uses all 9 letters - they are safe. Otherwise the first two spellers to find and spell five words make it through to the Top 5. The bottom four spellers will go into the Final Spelling Bee and one speller will be going home. It’s game on and TRISTAN is first to discover a word – CIDER. He spells it correctly to get a point... ANNIE, AVA and ZOE follow, with DROLL, COLDER and COOLED, joining TRISTAN on the leader board. ANNIE is the first to two points when she gets CRIED, ZOE joins her with CODER and ZACH is on the board with DOCILE. Tristan then buzzes in with CROCODILE - he has found the SUPERWORD! To be safely in the TOP 5 he must spell it correctly. CROD...ODILE – he immediately realises he’s made a mistake and missed a great opportunity to be safe for this week. With TRISTAN locked out, and the SUPERWORD out there, the game is wide open for the quickest to buzz in & spell CROCODILE correctly. True to form, speedy ZACH is first on the buzzer. He “guesses” CROCODILE & spells it correctly. ZACH goes straight into the TOP 5 and is the first speller into the GRAND FINAL DECIDER! Only one more speller will be safe today, so the pressure is on... ANNIE identifies COILED then ZEKE finally gets on the scoreboard with DICER. ANNIE finds OILED and climbs to 4 points on the leader board, only one point away from safety. ZOE, ZEKE and TRISTAN then find OLDER, RODEO and IDLER, then ZOE joins ANNIE on 4 points when she guesses RICED... both ANNIE and ZOE need only one point to be safe. AVA takes a guess at LICED but it’s not a real word, then ZOE hits the buzzer and has a mind-blank before coming up with DOLCER. It’s also not in the Macquarie Dictionary and she’s locked out. TRISTAN goes to 3 points with CORED, then ANNIE buzzes in with COOED. Is this even a word? It is! ANNIE has reached 5 points and safety, joining ZACH in the TOP 5. This means the bottom four - ZOE, AVA, ZEKE and TRISTAN will go into the Final Spelling Bee where one speller will be going home... Spelling Bee, The Spellers progress through 4 rounds of Spelling Bee without a mistake, but as the words get progressively harder the tension mounts... Round 5 begins with ZOE having to spell TERTIARY. Zoe has never heard the word before, and spells it TEACHERY but with three spellers to follow, she’s not out of the competition yet. AVA is up next. She spells CAMPAIGN correctly and is in TOP 5, but is anxious for ZOE... if both ZEKE and TRISTAN spell correctly, ZOE will be leaving the competition. TRISTAN is up next and spells INSTALMENT correctly, joining ZACH, ANNIE and AVA in the TOP 5. There’s one spot left in the TOP 5. If ZEKE spells his word right, ZOE is going home. ZEKE gets ELOQUENT and spells it ELOQUINT... That is incorrect and ZOE has a lifeline! ROUND 7 and ZEKE and ZOE are battling it out for the final place in the TOP 5. ZOE gets the word BASILICA, and spells it BESILICA... so close but incorrect - but she’s still not out. ZEKE needs to get his word right or it’ll be another round of Spelling Bee. ZEKE’s next word is CEREBRAL – he is a little uncertain but spells it correctly and is through to the Top 5! This means ZOE is going home. Zoe handles the disappointment well and is really happy for her friends who made it through. She’s gained a lot during the competition including a best friend, Ava, who vows to win the competition for Zoe.