Youtube / Jimmy Kimmel Live
Harini Logan, a 14-year-old San Antonio resident, won the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee earlier this month.
Kimmel, a two-time Kenny Guinn Jr. High School spelling bee champ, faced off against Logan in the 17th Annual Jimmy Kimmel Live Spelling Bee. Sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez, former boxer Mike Tyson and Kimmel's cousin Sal served as judges.
"It's a competition, and I don't care how old she is," Kimmel joked as the contest got underway.
Rodriguez, whose first language is Spanish, and the former boxer known for his lisp took turns butchering the pronunciation of words such as "Vanquish" — which Rodriguez pronounced as "van-kees," and phenomenon, which he pronounced "peni-mini-mo."
After two rounds of both competitors struggling to understand, Logan came out on top for correctly spelling "mischievous." Or as Rodriguez says “misk-y-voos.” Logan only correctly deciphered the word after an exhausted Kimmel whispered the correct pronunciation in her ear.
As champion, the 8th grader from San Antonio's Montessori School and her family will go on a Disneyland trip courtesy of Kimmel.
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