Entered into: Best Comedy Format 2023

Produced by: Kevin & Co
For: WarnerBrothers Discovery NZ - Channel Three
Distributed by: Kevin & Co

A fast-paced, entertaining and hilarious new comedy panel show that puts four comedian-contestants through their paces as they attempt to spell a myriad of words as best they can, all to be crowned that week’s best speller.
Welcome to Guy Montgomery’s Guy-Mont Spelling Bee.
Host Guy Montgomery and his loyal assistant Sanjay Patel will challenge four comedians, comprised of both established names and up-and-coming comics, to answer a series of spelling challenges of varying levels of difficulty. Filmed in front of a live audience, the contestants are motivated to put on more of a performance as well as having greater energy to feed off. It isn’t until you have to spell a word under pressure that things start wiggling around and you doubt yourself - it’s even better when it’s a naturally funny person on-camera sweating whether there are two r’s in embarrassing. Each episode features five rounds of spelling challenges. While the games change from week-to-week, the format/genre of the segments remain the same across the series. Round one is branded the same every week. With a catchy title "The Spelling Round" this is the only non-themed round. Guy asks each contestant to pick how many points they will be playing for - 1, 2 or 3 points. The higher the point value, the more difficult it is to spell the word. A less confident contestant can go for an easy start just to secure some points, a Speller talking a big game can start super difficult. The 3 point words are SUPER hard. After establishing a fairly simple spelling competition in round one, round two starts to undermine the idea this is a straightforward spelling show. Naturally this round involves spelling, but also has an element of luck as it will sometimes rely on supplementary, trivia or knowledge from the contestants. Round three contains the most interesting and difficult to spell words. This round is also where we generally have the most elaborate prop/set-dressing set ups.
Round four is the round where one's ability to spell will be the least amount of help to them. This round will make our contestants angry, and rightfully so, it’s ridiculous that this would be part of a spelling bee. Round five is a four minute, high pressure themed round with a buzzer. Guy reads a word, the contestants buzz in if they know it. First buzz gets to answer. If they get it right, they get a point, and if they get it wrong, they LOSE a point. The themes are super basic/broad like Fruit, Animals, Cinema, Romance, Furniture, Sport and of course, Spooky. These themes are open to as much lateral interpretation as we see fit. At the end of the episode we reveal our final scoreboard, with the winner celebrating and booking their ticket to the next episode, while the loser is sent to the chair in the corner to wear their dunce hat and look forlorn (it’s only fair - they’re terrible at spelling!)