Boy eliminated from spelling bee after VAR review

A boy has been eliminated from a spelling bee after VAR determined he had spelled a word incorrectly.

The 12-year-old student Roy Seligman was brutally dumped from the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals after a replay showed that he misspelt the word Ambystoma which is a type of salamander.

We can’t believe spelling bees have VAR either but they apparently do and on this occasion, it was used to determine if Seligman had said “y” or “i” when spelling the word. It, unfortunately, determined that he had said the latter leading him to leave the competition.

Seligman, who represented the Bahamas, previously competed in 2019, when he tied for 51st place. Reaching the finals, then, is pretty good going this time around even if he was scuppered by VAR.

Meanwhile, Zaila Avant-garde, from Louisiana, won after correctly spelling the word “murraya.” She is the first African American winner and the second Black champion in the competition’s history

Announcing the news of Seligman’s departure, one of the judges said: “Roy, you’re amazing and we’re so proud of you and we wanted to make sure we made the right decision. Congratulations for being here, you are a role model.”

We wish him well next year.