Shrey Parikh wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee, beating Ishaan Gupta in lightning round
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shrey Parikh felt the pressure of arriving at the Scripps National Spelling Bee as a favorite, but his confidence showed every time he got a word he knew. And when it all came down to a lightning-round tiebreaker against Ishaan Gupta, Shrey left no doubt.
Shrey turned a tense, high-quality final into a blowout Thursday night, racing through the 90-second “spell-off” and getting 32 words right to be crowned the best young speller in the English language. Ishaan spelled 25 words correctly in the tiebreaker.
A 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, Shrey finished third in 2024 but lost his school bee last year when he was battling a fever. He has dominated the bee circuit since, winning several online competitions against many of the same kids he outlasted this week in the nation’s capital. His winning haul includes a custom trophy and $52,500 in cash.
“Right now I’m probably the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m just so happy and relieved, and just such a flood of emotions,” Shrey said. “At my school bee last year, I was really dejected and just very upset. It didn’t even sink in until the next day. I had a really tough time, but I’m glad I was able to bounce back.”
Scottie's Playtime 
so what was the word? Im always curious what that last word is/was: I was in a state spelling bee a zillion years ago and lost the last round, the last word…sigh…
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By George, AP did not include that! Anyway, according to Scripps, “his winning word is ‘bromocriptine,’ which is ‘a polypeptide alkaloid that is a derivative of ergot and mimics the activity of dopamine.'” And now we know!
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