Ananya Vinay’s whirlwind brings her to ‘showdown’ with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest

Ananya Vinay – the country’s best speller after winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee on June 1 – appeared on “Live! With Kelly and Ryan” Wednesday morning to give the hosts a taste of her competition.

The 12-year-old from Fresno showed up in her yellow 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee champion T-shirt and was immediately asked how she managed to become the national champ.

“I worked and prepared more, by typing, seeing, hearing and feeling the word,” she said.

Ananya’s explanation prompted host Kelly Ripa’s to inquire: “You can feel the word?”

The Fugman Elementary School sixth-grader later competed with Ripa and Ryan Seacrest in a spelling challenge. Ananya correctly spelled words like “borborygmus.”

The final score was Ananya 2, Kelly and Ryan 1. The hosts presented Ananya with a trophy. (As if Ananya already wasn’t used to that.)

Ananya still has a few trips to make before returning to Fresno. She was invited to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday before a scheduled flight back to Fresno on Thursday night so she can make it to her last day of school Friday. Then, later that afternoon, she will be a guest on “The Jimmy Kimmel Show” taped for airing Friday night.

This story was originally published June 7, 2017 at 10:50 AM with the headline "Ananya Vinay’s whirlwind brings her to ‘showdown’ with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest."