Ten years ago, almost to the day, I was a finalist in the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee. My experience came rushing back on Thursday night while watching the 2026 finals unfold.
This year’s competition, which featured nine finalists, was hosted by ESPN’s Mina Kimes, fresh off her recent Celebrity Jeopardy! victory. The winner of the night was California eighth-grader Shrey Parikh, who aced 18 rounds of regular spelling before shocking the crowd in the last lightning round by correctly spelling 32 words—including chikungunya and bromocriptine—in 90 seconds.
The lightning round, as well as Kimes’ role as host, are new additions to the spelling bee this year, made in an effort to boost viewership after years of declining audience numbers. It’s unclear if it worked—viewership last year was less than half of its 2012 peak of 1 million, and this year’s numbers haven’t been published—but those who did watch Parikh storm through the final round would find it hard to disagree with sports writer Rodger Sherman, who called it the “new greatest athletic accomplishment of 2026.” (Even if Bee purists, myself included, are critical of the newfangled lightning round.)
But some viewers were less than impressed. As Parikh dominated the competition, someone wrote on X, “What is this skill going to help you accomplish in life?” The post went viral, and Kimes took to X herself to answer it.
“Shrey knew those words because he’s spent countless hours studying them—not just how to spell them, but what they mean, and how they’re put together,” she wrote. “The @ScrippsBee is a testament to not only the power of hard work, but also a reminder of what the HUMAN brain is capable of.”
