NFL analyst Mina Kimes is hoping to bring a “big-game” feel to this week’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, which she will host for the first time.
Fresh off a million-dollar win for charity in “Celebrity Jeopardy,” Kimes is taking her knowledge to Constitution Hall in downtown Washington, where 247 spellers will compete for a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes in Scripps’ 98th national spelling bee.
Although she never competed on the national stage, Kimes did compete in local elementary school spelling bees. Kimes, who graduated from Yale with an English degree in 2007 and has worked at ESPN since 2014, is a lead analyst on “NFL Live” and also hosts “The Mina Kimes Show.”
The bee kicks off Tuesday with the preliminary round and continues with Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals. Kimes will host Wednesday evening’s semifinals and Thursday’s finals, both of which will broadcast on ION beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Kimes recently spoke with The Athletic about hosting the bee and her best comparisons between spelling expertise and football prowess (plus, which current player and coach she’d like to see test their spelling aptitude).
How did the opportunity to host the bee come about?
It’s actually related to “Jeopardy” because the company that makes “Jeopardy,” Embassy Row, is producing the spelling bee this year for the first time. So, Michael Davies, who runs that company, reached out to me. We got to know each other a little bit, not just through this season of “Celebrity Jeopardy” but the prior one I did, and he might have gotten an inkling that I have a little bit of a nerdy side to me in that process.
He didn’t know that I competed in spelling bees growing up. When he reached out, I was ecstatic. I love the spelling bee. I’ve always loved the spelling bee. I think it’s one of our finest American competitions, and I’m so excited to be a part of it this year because if I had told my younger self I’d be doing this, she wouldn’t believe it.
Tell me about your experiences participating in spelling bees. I saw you were a three-time champion?
My dad dug up three winning prizes or photos because I didn’t really remember which ones I had done. The one I remembered is the photo that I published of myself in second grade, which was in San Pedro — I live in Los Angeles now — but it was the city spelling bee that year. I remember that one very vividly because I remember getting the trophy. It was the biggest trophy I had ever received, which, ironically, ‘received’ was my winning word. I also did geography bees. Growing up, my family was very passionate about geography. I played soccer, but I would say spelling and geography were my other two sports.
Wish I could travel back in time and tell my 2nd grade self I’d be doing this!
Such an honor to be part of this year’s National Spelling Bee. https://t.co/wikp2cAOEx pic.twitter.com/cd27PKwUjo
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) May 5, 2026
If you remember ‘received’ as your winning word, do you remember any words that tripped you up?
You know, it’s funny. The kids who compete in the bee and do so at a high level remember literally every word they’ve ever spelled wrong in their entire life, particularly the ones that they lost on. I do not, and I think that might be what separated me from them. And a lot of other things as well. I didn’t have that killer instinct.
As a former participant, what is preparation for the bee like? What are these kids going through right now to prepare?
Well, what I did is nothing compared to what these kids do. I’ve been learning more about it as I prepare to host the spelling bee, because it is truly remarkable the level of prep that they do. Some hire coaches, many have been training, I won’t say their entire lives, but close to it, given their ages. (Spellers are eligible through the eighth grade.)
The way they prepare is what I find the most fascinating because some folks assume it’s just memorization, and that’s certainly part of it. They are literally reading the dictionary; they get guides as well, and there are now electronic tools they can use to study words and remember them. But they also spend a lot of time studying etymology and word patterns. When you watch the bee, and this is something that I really hope we can highlight in this year’s broadcast, you can almost see them puzzle out words and solve them by leaning into that knowledge as opposed to the memory of words. Sometimes you can even tell they don’t know the word, but they’re able to figure it out using deductive reasoning. I think that’s really cool and something that we should probably appreciate more.
As a host, how are you preparing?
Fortunately, I will not be tasked with pronouncing the words themselves. That would be horrible. It is the longtime head pronouncer, Jacques Bailly, who is just a marvel of a man, who will be doing that.
But I will be introducing the kids, so I’m really trying to learn not just how to say their names — I think the pronunciation there matters a great deal — but learn more about them. We’ve got a lot of incredible repeat competitors, kids who went pretty far last year, even in the finals, coming back. I see my role, in addition to point-guarding the show and explaining to people what’s going on, as also taking on the very important job of introducing them to these competitors, who are truly the stars of the event.
You won’t pronounce the words, but will you know them ahead of time?
No. It’s all under lock and key. I do not. But having watched the last few bees to prepare for this and seeing the level of difficulty of these words, I think even if you told me them, and I was able to look at them, I would not be able to spell them correctly when given the opportunity.
You’ve said you want to bring a “big-game” feel to this year’s bee. How do you hope to do that?
When I watch it, and especially as I’ve been watching these past bees, to me, it is like the Super Bowl of academic events. I make the comparison for a few reasons. One is the level of competition. These kids are stars. They’re so prepared, and they are so composed, and they really are elite competitors in a way that, for me, feels reminiscent of the NFL athletes that I cover in my day-to-day job. So I want to highlight that.
I want to highlight how big these moments are, how fraught they are. Faizan Zaki won last year by going up, spelling his final word — his winning word — without asking any questions. I encourage people to look it up. It’s honestly one of the swaggiest things I’ve ever seen on TV. That, to me, is no different than a Patrick Mahomes no-look pass. Well, they’re a little different, but I want to give it the same feel because I think it’s what it deserves.
The skills of a spelling bee champion would best translate to which position on the football field?
It’s got to be quarterback because of what I just described. The way that (the spellers) are able to gather information and use that to solve these words is exactly like a quarterback pre-snap, trying to analyze the defense and figure out what its weaknesses are. And in the same way that the defenses now are trying to always trip up the quarterbacks, these words have the same potential to trip up kids if you get an unconventional origin, or if the pattern is a little bit off. (Quarterback) is a very cerebral position in the same way that these kids are obviously incredibly cerebral.
What are you most excited about when it comes to hosting this year’s bee? Is there anything new you hope to contribute?
I get to co-host it with Paul Loeffler, who has been doing this for a while and is absolutely fantastic. One thing that we really want to place an emphasis on, in addition to highlighting each kid and the word and the moment, is the how. For the most part, you’ll only hear from the pronouncers and spellers. You will not be hearing a lot from us. But when you do hear from us, and particularly Paul, I really think there’s an opportunity to teach viewers how the kids are doing it, not just to tell, you know? That’s what I love about great sports broadcasts is they teach, and you come out of it feeling like you know a little bit more about football than you did at the beginning. I want people who watch this to come out of it feeling not only amazed by these kids and entertained, but also to feel like they know a little more about spelling.
Which NFL player or coach do you think would do best in a spelling bee?
Myles Garrett is the player that comes to mind. He’s very smart and very prepared and has a million hobbies and side quests. I think he would really throw himself at it.
As far as coaches go, there are a lot of really smart coaches in the league right now. Maybe Ben Johnson. I feel like he is nerdy enough and also a savage in a way that would probably translate well because he would just do everything it took to win.