{"id":2435880,"date":"2026-05-28T20:32:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2435880"},"modified":"2026-05-28T20:32:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:32:50","slug":"how-to-watch-2026-scripps-national-spelling-bee-finals-for-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/how-to-watch-2026-scripps-national-spelling-bee-finals-for-free\/","title":{"rendered":"How to watch 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals for free"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F05%2Fnewspress-collage-a62etnhls-1779912064150.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261779897708\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"commerce-disclosure\">\n\t\tcelebrity.land may be compensated and\/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our links. Featured pricing is subject to change.<br \/>\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>A new National Spelling Bee champion will be crowned tonight. <\/p>\n<p>After a week of preliminaries, quarterfinals and semifinals, the nine best young spellers in the country will compete in the finals of the National Spelling Bee for the Scripps Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The 98th annual Bee has been moved back into Washington, D.C., after many years at a convention center in suburban Maryland, and some changes to the broadcast will inject new and exciting energy into one of the country\u2019s longest-standing traditions.<\/p>\n<p>This year, ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes will host the finals broadcast; Kimes is also a recent \u201cCelebrity Jeopardy!\u201d champion who raised $1 million for the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition throughout her run on the show.<\/p>\n<div class=\"product-spotlight product-spotlight-block wp-block-nypost-editor-product-spotlight\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t2026 scripps National spelling bee: what to know\t\t<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>When:<\/strong> May 28, <strong> 8 p.m. ET<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Where:<\/strong> DAR Constitution Hall (Washington, D.C.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Channel:<\/strong> ION Television<\/li>\n<li><strong>Streaming:<\/strong> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-nyp-link-source=\"trackonomics\" data-nyp-affiliate=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/clicks.trx-hub.com\/xid\/nypost_01638_nypost?p=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2026%2F05%2F28%2Fentertainment%2Fhow-to-watch-2026-scripps-national-spelling-bee-finals-for-free%2F&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tkqlhce.com%2Fclick-100223664-17176796%3Fsid%3Dspellingbee&amp;author=Angela%20Tricarico&amp;articleID=39504629&amp;event_type=click&amp;publishdate=may%2028%2C%202026&amp;linksource=web&amp;primarytag=scripps-national-spelling-bee&amp;contentsection=entertainment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">DIRECTV<\/a> (try it free)<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>To qualify for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, spellers must first be school or regional champions. All of the competitors are age 15 or younger, and none have passed beyond eighth grade. This year, 256 spellers entered the Bee. Of them, 64 are returning from <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/30\/us-news\/texas-teen-faizan-zaki-overcomes-shocking-self-inflicted-flub-to-win-2025-scripps-national-spelling-bee\/\">the 2025 competition<\/a>, among them are three of the nine finalists.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scripps National Spelling Bee 2026 date<\/h2>\n<p>The live finals of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee are tonight, May 28, at 8 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scripps National Spelling Bee channel<\/h2>\n<p>The finals of the National Spelling Bee will air on ION Television.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to watch and stream the Scripps National Spelling Bee<\/h2>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have cable, you\u2019ll need a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/decider.com\/article\/best-live-tv-streaming-services\/\">live TV streaming service<\/a> to stream the Spelling Bee finals for free.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-nyp-link-source=\"trackonomics\" data-nyp-affiliate=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/clicks.trx-hub.com\/xid\/nypost_01638_nypost?p=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2026%2F05%2F28%2Fentertainment%2Fhow-to-watch-2026-scripps-national-spelling-bee-finals-for-free%2F&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tkqlhce.com%2Fclick-100223664-17176796%3Fsid%3Dspellingbee&amp;author=Angela%20Tricarico&amp;articleID=39504629&amp;event_type=click&amp;publishdate=may%2028%2C%202026&amp;linksource=web&amp;primarytag=scripps-national-spelling-bee&amp;contentsection=entertainment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">DIRECTV<\/a> is our top pick for watching television live for free \u2014 its five-day free trial includes ION Television. When the trial is over, you\u2019ll pay as low as $34.99\/month, since ION is included in the MyEntertainment Genre Pack and every premium package.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How many spellers are in the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee?<\/h2>\n<p>Nine spellers will compete in the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. <\/p>\n<p>They are: Oliver Halkett (Los Angeles, California); Zwe Spacetime (Washington, D.C.); Kushi Gottimukkala (Charlotte, North Carolina); Avishka Dudala (Dallas, Texas); Aiden Meng (Danville, California); Shrey Parikh (San Bernardino, California); Sarv Dharavane (Tucker, Georgia); Ishaan Gupta (Jersey City, New Jersey) and Logan Bailey (Houston, Texas).<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee host<\/h2>\n<p>Earlier this month, the Scripps National Spelling Bee announced that ESPN personality and \u201cCelebrity Jeopardy!\u201d champion Mina Kimes will be the new host of the Spelling Bee finals. The Bee\u2019s media guide notes that Kimes is a former school spelling bee champion herself.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p><strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/why-trust-post-wanted-by-new-york-post\/\">Why Trust Post Wanted by the celebrity.land<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This article was written by <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/author\/angela-tricarico\/\">Angela Tricarico<\/a>, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/author\/angela-tricarico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Page Six<\/a>, and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/decider.com\/author\/angela-tricarico\/\">Decider.com<\/a>. Angela keeps readers up to date with <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/decider.com\/article\/hulu-netflix-disney-plus-best-streaming-deals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cord-cutter-friendly deals<\/a>, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she\u2019s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. When she\u2019s not writing about (or watching) TV, movies, and sports, she\u2019s also keeping up on the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/shopping\/bath-and-body-works-perfume-dupes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">underrated perfume dupes at Bath &amp; Body Works<\/a> and testing headphones. Prior to joining Decider and The celebrity.land in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>celebrity.land may be compensated and\/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our links. Featured pricing is subject to change. A new National Spelling Bee champion will be crowned tonight. After a week of preliminaries, quarterfinals and semifinals, the nine best young spellers in the country will compete in the finals of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2435881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[21741,226985,21818,477208,413663,23808,21913],"class_list":["post-2435880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-entertainment","tag-how-to-watch","tag-lifestyle","tag-scripps-national-spelling-bee","tag-spelling-bee","tag-streaming","tag-tv"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/How-to-watch-2026-Scripps-National-Spelling-Bee-finals-for.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2435880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2435882,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435880\/revisions\/2435882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2435881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2435880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2435880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2435880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}