Indian-American Faizan Zaki overcomes shocking, self-inflicted flub to win Scripps National Spelling Bee

Indian-American Faizan Zaki's joyful approach to spelling led him to victory at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Indian-American Faizan Zaki's enthusiasm for spelling nearly got the better of him. Ultimately, his joyful approach made him the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion.

The favourite entering the bee after his runner-up finish last year, during which he never misspelled a word in a conventional spelling round, only to lose a lightning-round tiebreaker that he didn't practice for, the shaggy-haired Faizan wore the burden of expectations lightly, sauntering to the microphone in a black hoodie and spelling his words with casual glee.

Including Faizan, whose parents emigrated from southern India, 30 of the past 36 champions have been Indian American, a run that began with Nupur Lala's victory in 1999, which was later featured in the documentary “Spellbound.” Lala was among the dozens of past champions who attended this year and signed autographs for spellers, families and bee fans to honour the anniversary.

Throughout Thursday (May 29, 2025) night's finals, the 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, looked like a champion in waiting. Then he nearly threw it away. But even a shocking moment of overconfidence couldn't prevent him from seizing the title of best speller in the English language.

With the bee down to three spellers, Sarvadnya Kadam and Sarv Dharavane missed their words back-to-back, putting Faizan two words away from victory. The first was “commelina,” but instead of asking the requisite questions — definition, language of origin — to make sure he knew it, Faizan let his showman's instincts take over.

“K-A-M,” he said, then stopped himself. “OK, let me do this. Oh, shoot!” “Just ring the bell,” he told head judge Mary Brooks, who obliged. “So now you know what happens,” Brooks said, and the other two spellers returned to the stage.

Later, standing next to the trophy with confetti at his feet, Faizan said, “I'm definitely going to be having nightmares about that tonight.”