P S am M O P H I L E Sama. That is correct. Well
was the final moment of the Scripps National spellin
bee when 14 year old Dev Shaw became this year's
champion Shaw came out on top after 15 rounds in the
final and throughout the week outs spelled 228 other
students from around the countr Wow. Yeah. And now we
are joined by the winner himself. Dev Shaw. Thank you
so much for being here. Dev. Congrats on this amazing
accomplishment and congrats on spelling that word
because even just hearing it, I was like, no way, no
chance would I know how to do it Uh How are you feeling
today I'm sure you're very tired but we're glad you're
here. Um I'm excited um, for everything that's gonna
come and I'm just happy. Yeah. Is this your first uh
interview I know you've had a long day. I'm sure the
adrenaline is pumping and you're exhausted. Like
Lindsay said, is this uh oh, ok. We had a slight
technical glitch but you're bac We can see you. Um,
is this your first interview in the morning I know. No.
Um, it's one of many, you, you're a very popular guy
today because I mean, what you did is so incredible.
How do you prepare for something like this I watched
the first word that you spelled yesterday and that one
was hard and then the one you, one with was impossibl
but they're such different word How did you get to
this point And, uh what's your technique like to, to
get to it Um, I would just take it one round at a time
and not worry about too much in the future. And, um, I
would just work with my dad. He would just quiz me on
words. I miss and um, my coach Scott Remer, he would,
uh quiz me roots and make sure if I get a word. I don't
know. I could guess it. Right. And that worked for one
of my words, which was, and what is it that you love
about spelling I mean, what, what, what, why has this
become your, uh, your passion You're obviously
incredibly good at it. Why do you love it so much Um If
I get a word, I don't know, like whether or not I gue
it right or not because that's like interesting
exciting. And what do you do for fun, man What, what,
uh, what hobbies besides when, you know, when he gets
out of the spelling game Uh, what do you do to, uh, be
Yeah. Um, I,I play the cello. Um, I,I like to read, uh,
and I play tennis and I hang out with friends well
rounded. But was there any moment last night where you
thought, you know, I may not make it to the end Was,
was there any moment that had you stumped or did you
feel pretty confident throughou Um, no, because like,
like I said, I was just focused on the round that was
next in the round. That was about to happen. So I
didn't worry about too much about whether or not I was
gonna, uh, make it to the end. And, uh, have you
decided or your parents decided yet What are you gonna
do with the, uh, the prize money here 25 grand. You
heading out to Vegas I probably put some of it in, um,
like college and that's a good idea. That's what I
meant by Vegas. College. Fun. Sorry, I misspoke. Yeah.
So what's next for you, Deb Do you plan to keep doing
spelling bees Are, are you just gonna take a break for
a little while What, what are kind of your, your goals
moving forward Well, I kind of aged out so I can't do
another spelling bee. But so this was kind of my last,
but I'll still like, keep in touch with my, with the
friends I made here. Do you have a job Uh, a dream job
And does it involve spelling Uh no, no, I don't have a
dream job yet. You got time. You have time. What about
a dream college Are you thinking to head to college a
little bit We'll let you go, uh, in a second here. But,
uh, any thoughts on college where you'd like to go,
would you like to study Oh, maybe frozen. Did we lose
the feed or did he fall asleep a week S s 14 And that
works for the competition then you got to do early
morning TV. Oh, I think, I think we got him back. Dad.
Sorry about the technical problems here. But, um, it
was there any, do you have a favorite word to spell or
word to quiz other people That one that always throws
people off. Um, no, I don't really talk about spellin
in public. I like that. You're separating, separa
the world and back to my college question. Any, any
thoughts on that Uh, what colleges, at least, what part
of the country, what you may want to study Well, I'd
wanna be in the north so I could see mountains but I
don't know what I wanna do or be when I grow up. That's,
I mean, that's fair. You got, you got time. Listen, Dev,
we appreciate you giving us some time. We know you're
tired. You've had a crazy, uh, few days. But congrats
on winning the be, thanks for giving us some time. Uh,
world is yours, my friend. Best of luck. Thank you.
Absolutely.