Third place in a national spelling competition is NO excuse for going for the cheek kiss, mom.
When Cole Shafer-Ray, a 14-year-old from Oklahoma, was eliminated from the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, his proud mother tried to lean in to kiss her accomplished son on the cheek. Cole was not having it.
Unlike Shafer-Ray, who holds firmly to the belief that national television is no place for affection, Dev Jaiswal of Mississippi really showered his family with love after his elimination.
2/2 Dev getting love from mom and sis. #SpellingBee #TeamDev pic.twitter.com/WLQtquBGxW— Mike Trudell (@MikeTrudell) May 29, 2015
The spelling bee crowned two champions last night, Vanya Shivashankar of Kansas and Gokul Venkatachalam of Missouri, both of whom presumably at least hugged their parents.