# The Great Australian Spelling Bee season 1

The first season of The Great Australian Spelling Bee premiered on Network Ten on 3 August 2015. The season was hosted by Grant Denyer and Chrissie Swan, and also starred Chris Edmund as pronouncer.
Anirudh won the season, receiving a $50,000 education scholarship, $10,000 worth of equipment for his school, a Macquarie Dictionary, a Sprout computer, and a HP Pro Slate 8 tablet in prizes. In addition, the five runners-up received scholarships worth $10,000, a HP Pro Slate 8 tablet, and $1,000 of education goods for their school.

## Contestants

The series began with 52 contestants aged 8–13 years old which was cut down to the Top 26.
| Speller | Top 26 | Top 24 | Top 20 | Top 16 | Top 12 | Top 8 | Final |
| Anirudh | Safe (speed spell) | Safe (speed spell ) | Immune | Immune | Safe (flash cards ) | Safe (Letter By Letter) | Champion |
| Grace D | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Immune | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | 2nd |
| Mica Krzyzanowski | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Immune | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Show and Spell) | 3rd |
| Harrison | Safe (flash cards ) | Safe (flash cards ) | Immune | Immune | Safe (speed spell ) | Safe (Letter By Letter) | 4th |
| Harpita | Safe (Flash Cards) | Immune | Safe (Flash Cards) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | 5th |
| Marko | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Immune | Safe (Show and Spell) | 6th |
| Amelia | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Immune | Safe (Flash Cards) | Eliminated | |
| Peyton | Safe (Flash Cards) | Immune | Safe (Flash Cards) | Immune | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Eliminated | |
| Amanda | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Eliminated | | |
| Grace P | Safe (Spell Check) | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Eliminated | | |
| Harpith | Safe (Spell Check) | Immune | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Eliminated | | |
| Karl | Safe (Spell Check) | Immune | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Eliminated | | |
| Aimee | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Eliminated | | | |
| Holly T | Safe (Spell Check) | Immune | Immune | Eliminated | | | |
| Jye | Safe (Flash Cards) | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Eliminated | | | |
| Stuart | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Immune | Eliminated | | | |
| Holly R | Safe (Flash Cards) | Safe (Flash Cards) | Eliminated | | | | |
| Jack B | Safe (Speed Spell) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Eliminated | | | | |
| Ryan | Safe (Final Spelling Bee) | Immune | Eliminated | | | | |
| Tej | Safe (Flash Cards) | Safe (Speed Spell) | Eliminated | | | | |
| Bella | Safe (Speed Spell) | Eliminated | | | | | |
| Ben | Safe (Speed Spell) | Eliminated | | | | | |
| Josie | Safe (Flash Cards) | Eliminated | | | | | |
| Timothy | Safe (Flash Cards) | Eliminated | | | | | |
| Josh | Eliminated | | | | | | |
| Jack H | Eliminated | | | | | | |

## Episodes
### Episode 1

This episode consisted of 4 person heats, with 2 in each group winning a spot in the top 26.

### Episode 2

At the beginning of the episode it was announced that Emma had to quit the competition due to family reasons. Because of this Harpith (as the most successful eliminated contestant) was brought back into the competition. In the first challenge of the season Speed Spell, the spellers had to spell as many words as they could in a limited amount of time. The top 10 spellers would win immunity. The people that won immunity were Ben, Mica, Grace D, Anirudh, Marko, Amanda, Jack B, Amelia, Bella, Aimee in no particular order. In the second competition Speed Spell 1v1 writing competitions happened the winner of the 1v1 would win immunity. In the final competition before the spelling bee the 8 remaining spellers had to see if the word was misspelled if it was then the speller had to spell correctly that word. If they got it right for the misspelled word and spelled the word correctly they would get immunity. The spelling bee lasted 1 round because Jack and Joshua got their words wrong round 1.

### Episode 3

| Team | Spellers | Results | Results | Results |
| Team | Spellers | Letter by Letter | Show and Spell | Spelling Bee |
| Blue | Harrison | 7 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Mica | 7 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Amanda | 7 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Jye | 7 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Stuart | 7 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Tej | 7 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Green | Marko | 10 points (1st) | Lost Tiebreaker (3rd) | N/A |
| Green | Grace D | 10 points (1st) | Lost Tiebreaker (3rd) | N/A |
| Green | Bella | 10 points (1st) | Lost Tiebreaker (3rd) | N/A |
| Green | Jack B | 10 points (1st) | Lost Tiebreaker (3rd) | N/A |
| Green | Anirudh | 10 points (1st) | Lost Tiebreaker (3rd) | N/A |
| Green | Timothy | 10 points (1st) | Lost Tiebreaker (3rd) | N/A |
| Red | Holly R | 8 points (2nd) | 3 points (1st) | 7th |
| Red | Grace P | 8 points (2nd) | 3 points (1st) | 4th |
| Red | Aimee | 8 points (2nd) | 3 points (1st) | 12th |
| Red | Amelia | 8 points (2nd) | 3 points (1st) | 5th |
| Red | Josie | 8 points (2nd) | 3 points (1st) | 11th |
| Red | Ben | 8 points (2nd) | 3 points (1st) | 2nd |
| Yellow | Harpith | 8 points (2nd) | Won Tiebreaker (2nd) | 1st |
| Yellow | Karl | 8 points (2nd) | Won Tiebreaker (2nd) | 10th |
| Yellow | Peyton | 8 points (2nd) | Won Tiebreaker (2nd) | 9th |
| Yellow | Holly T | 8 points (2nd) | Won Tiebreaker (2nd) | 6th |
| Yellow | Harpita | 8 points (2nd) | Won Tiebreaker (2nd) | 3rd |
| Yellow | Ryan | 8 points (2nd) | Won Tiebreaker (2nd) | 8th |

### Episode 4

At the end of Speed Spell, the Top 6 were deemed safe from elimination. In no particular order, those spellers were Marko, Anirudh, Mica, Tej, Grace D and Jack B. The remaining 12 spellers went head-to-head in Flash Cards, where the theme was technology. The winning spellers, Harrison, Aimee, Amelia, Amanda, Holly R and Stuart were then safe from elimination. In the final spelling bee, 6 spellers spelling in multiple rounds to determine the 2 spellers who would be safe from elimination (Jye and Grace P). The other 4 spellers, Ben, Bella, Timothy and Josie were sent home.

### Episode 5

In the Final Spelling Bee, Yellow Team was facing defeat against Green Team. It was a three-on-one situation, as Green Team had three members and Yellow Team only had Mica as their last member. However, Mica rallied in an impressive showing to obtain an astounding come-from-behind victory and gain immunity for her team.
| Team | Spellers | Results | Results | Results |
| Team | Spellers | Letter by Letter | Show and Spell | Spelling Bee |
| Blue | Grace P | 5 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Tej | 5 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Amanda | 5 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Jack B | 5 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Marko | 5 points (4th) | N/A | N/A |
| Blue | Red | 5 points (4th) | N/A | N/A | Amelia | 8 points (1st) | 0 point (last place) | N/A |
| Ryan | Red | | | | | 8 points (1st) | 0 point (last place) | N/A |
| Aimee | Red | | | | | 8 points (1st) | 0 point (last place) | N/A |
| Grace D | Red | | | | | 8 points (1st) | 0 point (last place) | N/A |
| Peyton | Red | | | | | 8 points (1st) | 0 point (last place) | N/A |
| Green | Red | Holly R | 6 points (3rd) | 3 points (1st) | 2nd | 8 points (1st) | 0 point (last place) | N/A |
| Green | Jye | 3rd | 6 points (3rd) | 3 points (1st) |
| Green | Harpith | 4th | 6 points (3rd) | 3 points (1st) |
| Green | Harpita | 8th | 6 points (3rd) | 3 points (1st) |
| Green | Karl | 10th | 6 points (3rd) | 3 points (1st) |
| Green | Yellow | Mica | 6 points (3rd) | 3 points (1st) | 7 points (2nd) | 2 points (2nd) | 1st |
| Stuart | Yellow | 7th | | | 7 points (2nd) | 2 points (2nd) |
| Holly T | Yellow | 5th | | | 7 points (2nd) | 2 points (2nd) |
| Anirudh | Yellow | 9th | | | 7 points (2nd) | 2 points (2nd) |
| Harrison | Yellow | 6th | | | 7 points (2nd) | 2 points (2nd) |

## Ratings
### Colour key

    Highest rating episode during the series
    Lowest rating episode during the series
The Great Australian Spelling Bee (season 1) overnight ratings, with metropolitan viewership and nightly position :
| Episode | Episode | Original airdate | Timeslot approx. | Viewers (Millions) | Rank (Night) |
| 1 | "Episode One" | 3 August 2015 (2015-08-03) | Monday 7:30 pm | 0.921 | #7 |
| 2 | "Episode Two" | 4 August 2015 (2015-08-04) | Tuesday 7:30 pm | 0.801 | #8 |
| 3 | "Episode Three" | 10 August 2015 (2015-08-10) | Monday 7:30 pm | 0.655 | #16 |
| 4 | "Episode Four" | 11 August 2015 (2015-08-11) | Tuesday 7:30 pm | 0.642 | #12 |
| 5 | "Episode Five" | 17 August 2015 (2015-08-17) | Monday 7:30 pm | 0.662 | #16 |
| 6 | "Episode Six" | 18 August 2015 (2015-08-18) | Tuesday 7:30 pm | 0.616 | #16 |
| 7 | "Episode Seven" | 24 August 2015 (2015-08-24) | Monday 7:30 pm | 0.665 | #16 |
| 8 | "Episode Eight" | 25 August 2015 (2015-08-25) | Tuesday 7:30 pm | 0.589 | #16 |
| 9 | "Episode Nine" | 31 August 2015 (2015-08-31) | Monday 7:30 pm | 0.639 | #19 |
| 10 | "Episode Ten" | 1 September 2015 (2015-09-01) | Tuesday 7:30 pm | 0.624 | #14 |
| 11 | "Episode Eleven" | 7 September 2015 (2015-09-07) | Monday 7:30 pm | 0.662 | #16 |
| 12 | "Grand Final" | 8 September 2015 (2015-09-08) | Tuesday 7:30 pm | 0.755 | #11 |
| 12 | "Winner Announced" | 8 September 2015 (2015-09-08) | Tuesday 7:30 pm | 0.901 | #7 |