Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee

Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee is a New Zealand television comedy panel show on Three, created and presented by Guy Montgomery and co-hosted by Sanjay Patel. The show is loosely based on a spelling bee: each episode, four comedians participate in a series of rounds, where the goal is almost always to spell words or names in rounds that are "designed to be infuriating to take part in and entertaining to watch". The winner of each episode competes again the following week, and the loser of each episode (the one who got last place) must wear a dunce cap in the Dunce's Corner.

The first series of Guy Mont-Spelling Bee aired in 2023, and a second series has been filmed and will premiere on 5 September 2024. The ABC ordered an Australian version of the show in 2024.

Background and production
Guy Montgomery, inspired by the Scripps National Spelling Bee, began hosting spelling bees with other comedians over Zoom and broadcast live on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the success of those games, Montgomery developed the concept into a show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and then into a television show in 2023.

YouTube broadcasts
The first YouTube series of six broadcasts took place in 2020. The contestants were Tim Batt, Tom Sainsbury, Rose Matafeo, Madeleine Sami, Paul Williams, Alice Snedden, Jackie van Beek, Kura Forrester, Chris Parker, Ayo Edebiri, Paul F. Tompkins, Blair Socci, Joe Mande, Aaron Chen, Lily Sullivan, Colin Burgess, Jamie Loftus and Amy Hoggart.

A shorter, second series of contests were streamed in 2021, featuring Laura Daniel, Urzila Carlson, David Correos, Rebecca Lucas, Alexei Toliopoulos, Angella Dravid, Brynley Stent, Concetta Caristo, Chris Parker, Alice Snedden, and Pax Assadi.

Live shows
After the streaming broadcasts, Montgomery took the spelling bee to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2022, performing four shows across April. The guests for each show were Becky Lucas, Urzila Carlson, Chris Parker, and Suren Jayemanne; Melanie Bracewell, Sam Campbell, Phil Wang, and Rhys Nicholson; Emma Holland, David O'Doherty, Luke Heggie, and Fern Brady; and Danielle Walker and Vidya Rajan.

Guy Mont-Spelling Bee returned to the MICF in 2023, with five shows. The guests this year were Tim Batt, Josie Long, Patrick Golamco, and Patti Harrison; Anne Edmonds, Mark Watson, Jason Leong, and Frankie McNair; Ed Gamble, Courtney Dawson, Tim Key, and Chloe Petts; Kitty Flanagan, Urzila Carlson, Sam Pang, and Ed Kavalee; and Michael Hing, Rosie Jones, Geraldine Hickey, and Guy Williams. The next month in May 2023, Guy Mont-Spelling Bee premiered in Sydney.

A bee was held in August 2023 in Auckland, featuring Abby Howells, Courtney Dawson, Joe Daymond, and David Correos. Another live bee at the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival featured John Kearns, Anne Edmonds, Anirban Dasgupta, and Fern Brady.

Television
Guy Mont-Spelling Bee was developed into a television show by Montgomery together with comedian Joseph Moore and the production company Kevin & Co. Funding of the show comes from NZ On Air. Montgomery also serves as the showrunner.

The "retro" feel of the show is intentional, as Montgomery wanted the set to feel "timeless" by using physical props and as few screens as possible. Sacha Young was the stylist for the production. Additionally, Montgomery notes that the "hokey" title of the show "sets the tone for the experience".

Series 1 was filmed in November 2022 in Auckland, and was broadcast for eight weeks starting in February 2023 in the 7:30pm timeslot on Three. On 10 July 2023, it was announced that the show had been renewed for a second eight-episode series.

Series 2 was filmed in November 2023 and at least one guest, Rose Matafeo, has been confirmed.

Format
Every episode begins with The Spelling Round, a standard spelling bee round in which the contestants select a word from three containers with varying levels of spelling difficulty ranging from 13 points: the Coward's Cup, the Person's Purse, or the Bucket of Bravery. Other rounds include:


 * Celebrities: Guests spell a celebrity's name given their picture.
 * Choose A Letter: Guests pick a letter, and then must spell a given animal name without using that letter.
 * Feelings: Guests must identify an item by touch and then spell it.
 * Flags: Guests pick words from a board covered in flags, national or otherwise.
 * Hard Words For a 13 Year Old: Guests are each joined by a 13-year-old, who may win a prize.
 * High School Photo: Guests bring in photos from their time in high school and Montgomery picks a winner; "hardly even a game at all."
 * Homophones: Guests must spell the correct word from homophones.
 * Household Adjectives: Guests pick household items and then must spell a given adjective related to the item.
 * How Many Letters: Guests guess how many letters are in a jar.
 * Instruments: Guests hear a musical instrument and must spell it.
 * Invent A Word: Guests must create the best new word for a given concept.
 * Object Round: Guests spell a given word using physical objects.
 * Punctuation: Guests are shown punctuation marks and must spell them.
 * Social Media: Montgomery confronts guests with past social media posts, and they must recreate or rectify typos, or spell a given related word.
 * Spell It Better: Guests invent a new and improved spelling for an existing word.
 * Spell It On A Calculator: Guests must use a calculator to spell a given word.
 * Spell Like a Six Year Old: Guests must match the spelling of a 6-year-old child.
 * Spell The Animal: Montgomery wears a series of animal masks which inspire the words that the guests must spell.
 * Spell The Audience Name: Guests choose a member of the audience and then must spell their full name.
 * Spell The Colour: Guests pick words to spell from a multi-coloured board.
 * Wingdings: Guests must translate a word displayed in Wingdings.

Each episode ends with The Buzz Round, a themed, timed, fast-paced round in which contestants hit a buzzer first for the chance to spell each word; they lose a point if the spelling is incorrect. The time limit of this round varies with episode.

Series 1 (2023)

 * Winners in bold, dunces in italics.