The first season of The Great Australian Spelling Bee premiered on Network Ten on 3 August 2015. The season was hosted by Grant Denyer and Chrissie Swan, and also starred Chris Edmund as pronouncer.
Anirudh won the season, receiving a $50,000 education scholarship, $10,000 worth of equipment for his school, a Macquarie Dictionary, a Sprout computer, and a HP Pro Slate 8 tablet in prizes. In addition, the five runners-up received scholarships worth $10,000, a HP Pro Slate 8 tablet, and $1,000 of education goods for their school.
Contestants
The series began with 52 contestants aged 8–13 years old which was cut down to the Top 26.
Speller Top 26 Top 24 Top 20 Top 16 Top 12 Top 8 Final Anirudh Safe (speed spell) Safe (speed spell ) Immune Immune Safe (flash cards ) Safe (Letter By Letter) Champion Grace D Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Flash Cards) Safe (Flash Cards) Immune Safe(Final Spelling Bee) 2nd Mica Krzyzanowski Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Speed Spell) Immune Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Show and Spell) 3rd Harrison Safe (flash cards ) Safe (flash cards ) Immune Immune Safe (speed spell ) Safe (Letter By Letter) 4th Harpita Safe (Flash Cards) Immune Safe (Flash Cards) Safe (Speed Spell) Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Safe(Final Spelling Bee) 5th Marko Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Speed Spell) Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Immune Safe (Show and Spell) 6th Amelia Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Flash Cards) Safe (Flash Cards) Immune Safe (Flash Cards) Eliminated Peyton Safe (Flash Cards) Immune Safe (Flash Cards) Immune Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Eliminated Amanda Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Flash Cards) Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Safe (Speed Spell) Eliminated Grace P Safe (Spell Check) Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Safe (Flash Cards) Safe (Flash Cards) Eliminated Harpith Safe (Spell Check) Immune Safe (Speed Spell) Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Eliminated Karl Safe (Spell Check) Immune Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Speed Spell) Eliminated Aimee Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Flash Cards) Safe (Flash Cards) Eliminated Holly T Safe (Spell Check) Immune Immune Eliminated Jye Safe (Flash Cards) Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Eliminated Stuart Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Safe (Flash Cards) Immune Eliminated Holly R Safe (Flash Cards) Safe (Flash Cards) Eliminated Jack B Safe (Speed Spell) Safe (Speed Spell) Eliminated Ryan Safe(Final Spelling Bee) Immune Eliminated Tej Safe (Flash Cards) Safe (Speed Spell) Eliminated Bella Safe (Speed Spell) Eliminated Ben Safe (Speed Spell) Eliminated Josie Safe (Flash Cards) Eliminated Timothy Safe (Flash Cards) Eliminated Josh Eliminated Jack H Eliminated
Episodes
Episode 1 This episode consisted of 4 person heats, with 2 in each group winning a spot in the top 26.
Episode 2 At the beginning of the episode it was announced that Emma had to quit the competition due to family reasons. Because of this Harpith (as the most successful eliminated contestant) was brought back into the competition. In the first challenge of the season Speed Spell, the spellers had to spell as many words as they could in a limited amount of time. The top 10 spellers would win immunity. The people that won immunity were Ben, Mica, Grace D, Anirudh, Marko, Amanda, Jack B, Amelia, Bella, Aimee in no particular order. In the second competition Speed Spell, spellers would compete in duels to win safety. In the final competition before the spelling bee the 8 remaining spellers had to see if the word was misspelled, if it was then the speller had to correctly spell that word. If they spelled it correctly, they would gain safety. The spelling bee lasted 1 round because Jack and Joshua got their first words wrong.
Episode 3
Team Spellers Results Letter by Letter Show and Spell Spelling Bee Blue Harrison 7 points (4th) rowspan="6" colspan="2" Mica Amanda Jye Stuart Tej Green Marko 10 points (1st) Lost Tiebreaker (3rd) rowspan="6" Grace D Bella Jack B Anirudh Timothy Red Holly R 8 points (2nd) 3 points (1st) 7th Grace P 4th Aimee 12th Amelia 5th Josie 11th Ben 2nd Yellow Harpith 8 points (2nd) Won Tiebreaker (2nd) 1st Karl 10th Peyton 9th Holly T 6th Harpita 3rd Ryan 8th
Episode 4 At the end of Speed Spell, the Top 6 were deemed safe from elimination. In no particular order, those spellers were Marko, Anirudh, Mica, Tej, Grace D and Jack B. The remaining 12 spellers went head-to-head in Flash Cards, where the theme was technology. The winning spellers, Harrison, Aimee, Amelia, Amanda, Holly R and Stuart were then safe from elimination. In the final spelling bee, 6 spellers spelling in multiple rounds to determine the 2 spellers who would be safe from elimination (Jye and Grace P). The other 4 spellers, Ben, Bella, Timothy and Josie were sent home.
Episode 5
Team Spellers Results Letter by Letter Show and Spell Spelling Bee Blue Grace P 7 points (4th) rowspan="6" colspan="2" Mica Amanda Jye Green Marko 10 points (1st) Lost Tiebreaker (3rd) rowspan="6" Grace D Bella Jack B Anirudh Timothy Red Holly R 8 points (2nd) 3 points (1st) 7th Grace P 4th Aimee 12th Amelia 5th Josie 11th Ben 2nd Yellow Harpith 8 points (2nd) Won Tiebreaker (2nd) 1st Karl 10th Peyton 9th Holly T 6th Harpita 3rd Ryan 8th
Ratings Colour key: Highest rating episode during the series Lowest rating episode during the series
+ The Great Australian Spelling Bee (season 1) overnight ratings, with metropolitan viewership and nightly position Episode Original airdate Timeslot approx. Viewers Rank Source 1 "Episode One" Monday 7:30 pm 0.921 #7 2 "Episode Two" Tuesday 7:30 pm 0.801 #8 3 "Episode Three" Monday 7:30 pm 0.655 #16 4 "Episode Four" Tuesday 7:30 pm 0.642 #12 5 "Episode Five" Monday 7:30 pm 0.662 #16 6 "Episode Six" Tuesday 7:30 pm 0.616 #16 7 "Episode Seven" Monday 7:30 pm 0.665 #16 8 "Episode Eight" Tuesday 7:30 pm 0.589 #16 9 "Episode Nine" Monday 7:30 pm 0.639 #19 10 "Episode Ten" Tuesday 7:30 pm 0.624 #14 11 "Episode Eleven" Monday 7:30 pm 0.662 #16 12 "Grand Final" Tuesday 7:30 pm 0.755 #11 "Winner Announced" 0.901 #7
References