Almost 100 years ago, nine newspapers joined forces to create a national spelling bee to help promote literacy. Now, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has become so popular that it has been televised on ESPN for 27 years before moving to its own network in 2022.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a serious competition with students who have studied arduously to memorize root words, phonetic rules, and unusual spellings in the hopes of being crowned the nation’s spelling champion. The honor also comes with a $50,000 cash prize, so the competition is fierce.
But that didn’t stop one competitor from bursting into giggles at being asked to spell the word “sardoodledom.”
Meet the kid who lost it at the mic
During the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee, 11-year-old Kennyi Aouad approached the microphone with serious concentration when it was his turn to spell. But when the judges told him the word he was to spell and he repeated it, he burst out laughing.
Watch Kennyi lose it repeatedly as he tries to make it through his turn:
“His laugh!! 
I love that in the seriousness of spelling bees, he was able to be himself. This made me smile!” wrote one person.
“So cute. Smart with a touch of sense of humour,” wrote another.
“Talk about breaking the tension!!” shared another. “I love it and he got it right!”
If you’re curious, Kennyi placed 34th in that year’s spelling bee. He would go on to compete again, however, and tied for 5th place in the 2009 bee.
What does sardoodledom even mean?
“Sardoodledom” isn’t a word most of us have ever encountered, and hearing it out loud, it’s easy to see why Kennyi couldn’t keep it together. According to Merriam-Webster, it means “mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterization in drama,” essentially just a fancy word for melodrama. Even one of the judges started giggling along with him.
Even though the kid totally nailed it with sardoodledom, he placed 34th that year. When he returned in 2009, he made it all the way to the final minutes before being eliminated on the word “palatschinken.”
So what is he doing now?
So what happened to Aouad? He clearly didn’t lose his love for learning. He is now a registered pharmacist and earned his Doctor of Pharmacy from Midwestern University in Illinois. Notably, Aouad was delayed in speaking as a child. Spelling bees were introduced as a way to help him overcome those early speech challenges. He also received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Carleton College, a private liberal arts college in the historic river town of Northfield, Minnesota.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
