Last night at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg, Robert Moy took home the crown at the finale of the long-running Williamsburg Spelling Bee (now about to enter its 9th season in February). It's more commonly known as the "Hipster Spelling Bee," but that just seems like the same reactionary snark fired at anything happening within sneezing distance of a few Brooklyn L stops. When one of the nine contestants offhandedly mentioned that she was "channeling her inner Rebecca Steele," we agreed with the assessment of another overheard label: "Nerd Soup" (it's charming, in an Alpha Bits cereal sort of way).
Even though the participants outnumbered the spectators (including hosts Jen Dziura and Bobby Blue), it's more than fair to say Moy was the fan favorite—his animated antics as he racked his brain for words made us feel like he would fit right in as the ninth savant competitor (albeit a thirtysomething one) in the documentary Spellbound. You can't help but be won over by a guy who struggles through a word, then gets tergiversation for his next challenge and earnestly responds, "That's more like it!"
Moy won by going twelve for twelve in the final round, setting a WSB record for total words spelled correctly. He took home $150 cash and a twenty volume set of the Oxford English Dictionary along with a handful of other prizes. When we asked him to spell his last name, he responded, "Spell toy!"
