Here’s a fun fact about me: as a child, it was my dream to participate in a spelling bee, or to go on a TV gameshow. (I unsuccessfully applied to be a contestant on the early 2000s children’s gameshow Download, but I did receive a very nice autographed photo of Scott McRae.) So Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee, a spelling-centric gameshow, is all my childhood dreams come true. It’s also a lot of nostalgic fun, and deeply maddening in the way that the best gameshows are.
Comedian host Guy Montgomery has been perfecting the art of the spelling bee for a while, starting out on Zoom and YouTube during Covid lockdown. He then took it to the Melbourne international comedy festival in 2022, and again the next year. A television show in Montgomery’s native New Zealand followed, and now this Australian version picks up where that left off.
The show’s 70s-inspired set design, from its logo and orange-hued walls to Montgomery’s brown suit, lends a retro feeling to the program, which nonetheless feels wonderfully contemporary. Montgomery is in character as a wide-smiling, eccentric TV host, recalling James Marsden’s Corny Collins – both charming and slightly deranged. His answers to the classic spelling bee questions – country of origin, definition – are quick-witted jokes that add to the fun (for example, his definition for “desiccated”: “to remove the moisture from something until it becomes completely dry – a bit like the time I wore a fedora on a first date”). The show is fast and furious, with the same atmosphere of banter and friendly competition as the likes of Spicks and Specks.
Each episode features four contestants: mostly Australian comedians ranging from longtime household names such as Wil Anderson (“making his debut on the ABC”, Montgomery jokes), Tom Gleeson and Tim Minchin, to the new generation of comics, including Demi Lardner, Urvi Majumdar and Jenny Tian. In the first round in every episode, contestants take turns to pick from The Coward’s Cup (easy), Person’s Purse (medium) or Bucket of Bravery (difficult) to spell their first word for one to three points. Then things get wild.
There’s Spell It Better, a round in which contestants come up with a new spelling for a word, and Impressions, where a photo of a celebrity is shown and contestants must spell their name while impersonating them (Minchin’s Fran Drescher is truly something to behold). There are props: in one round, contestants have to spell the name of different hats – if they get it wrong, they have to wear it until their next correct answer (not the most comfortable experience when it’s a barbute).
Every episode ends with the free-for-all buzz round – contestants hit the buzzer to spell a themed word, gaining or losing a point for correct or incorrect answers. No matter how well they have performed throughout the game, this is the decider – and it’s typically hectic and nail-biting. The winner goes on to compete in the next episode, and the loser is sent off to the dunce corner, complete with a hat of shame.
Undoubtedly the star of the show is Montgomery’s right-hand man, Aaron Chen. The comedian’s purposefully awkward demeanour and deadpan one-liners, coupled with his revolving door of outfits and personas – everything from Owen Wilson to a word-loving policeman – bring a splash of delightful absurdity.
Guy Mont Spelling Bee is great fun to play along with at home, tapping into the primary school energy we all have deep within us while adding a dash of feral insanity. I never got to go on Download or be crowned with spelling bee glory in real life, but I have now beaten contestants on this show from the comfort of my bed – and that’s pretty T-E-R-I-F-F-I-C. Oh no …
Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee airs on ABC on Wednesdays 8.30pm and ABC iview.
