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Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, reacts after correctly spelling 'quillon' on Thursday, in the finals.(Photo: Christopher Powers, USA TODAY)
The final rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee were<span style="color: Red;">*</span>nailbiters, but 11-year-old Nihar Janga brought some comic relief.
The finalist from Houston, Texas, who was declared co-champion<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with 13-year-old Jairam Hathwar of Painted Post, N.Y., had the crowd cheering well before the confetti fell Thursday night.
“Appetitost, is this a cheese?” Nihar asked, not the first time he threw a definition at the judges.
“It is. It’s a soft Danish cheese,” pronouncer Dr. Jacques A. Bailly said, as spectators laughed and cheered.
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“Taoiseach, is this an Irish prime minister?” he later asked.
"It is," Bailly told him. Nihar went on to spell it correctly, surviving another championship round.
Nihar, Speller 232, was the only speller to get a perfect score on the preliminary test. That means he not only spelled every word correctly during Rounds 2 and 3, but he also aced the written test that preceded those rounds.
Nihar and Jairam exhausted 25 championship rounds worth of words. They spelled correctly all but two rounds (the misspellings were back-to-back, so no one was disqualified). Nihar's winning<span style="color: Red;">*</span>word was "gesellschaft." For Jairam, speller 152, it was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"Feldenkrais."
When they were declared the co-champions, Nihar was asked how he managed to get as far as he did, being a first-timer at the National Spelling Bee.
His answer? “My mom.”
Good kid.
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Jairam Hathwar, 13, of Painted Post, N.Y., left, and Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, celebrate as co-champions during the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee, in National Harbor, Md.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Christopher Powers, USA TODAY
The 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee co-champions Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, left, and Jairam Hathwar, 13, of Painted Post, N.Y., hoist their trophy, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
The 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee co-champions Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, left, and Jairam Hathwar, 13, of Painted Post, N.Y., celebrate their win, on Thursday, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Christopher Powers, USA TODAY
Jairam Hathwar, 13, of Painted Post, N.Y., left, and Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, embrace on stage in the final round as they learn they have the potential to be co-champions.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
Snehaa Ganesh Kumar, 13, of Folsom, Calif., left, gets a high-five from Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, after she correctly spelled a word during the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
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