You can’t sing – not even in the shower. Your carefully planned delectable dishes end up being despicable disasters. You simply don’t have the stamina to survive on a deserted island; and your budding entrepreneurial skills won’t turn you into the next big business mogul. But the day spelling talent was handed out, you were in front of the queue, just behind the Oxford dictionary. Finally, it’s your time to shine on M-Net!
This October, pioneering television network M-Net is celebrating 30 years of timeless magic. It’s also the month during which M-Net’s premium channel, M-Net 101, will be touring the country to hold auditions for the next season of The Voice SA as well as the month the channel introduced the highly entertaining new local reality show Shark Tank South Africa. But there’s more up the M-Net 101 sleeve: The channel is producing a brand-new, family-friendly game show called Spellbound, based on the concept of a spelling bee, and is looking for word whizzes who could become the country’s English spelling and grammar champions.
Spellbound will test contestants’ word skills in a fun and interactive way and will include super spellers from different age groups. There will be a round for primary school learners between the ages of 10 and 13, a round for high school learners between the ages of 14 and 18, and one for adults of all ages, as long as they’re over 18 and are South African citizens or permanent residents. The learners must currently be attending school in South Africa and must have the permission of their parents or legal guardians to take part in the show.
Apart from the exhilarating thrill that comes from knowing that you’re the country’s number one letter-master in your age group, winners – and their schools – will walk away with cash prizes.
Entries for Spellbound have opened on M-Net’s official website and will close on Monday, 31 October at 23:59. To be invited to show off your superlative English spelling and grammar skills on the Spellbound set, the first step is to complete the questionnaire and online test here.
Interestingly, according to Internet quizzes, “questionnaire” often makes the list of most commonly misspelt (or is it misspelled?) words in the English language. And it’s embarrassing (correct spelling) how often spell-checkers have to correct words such as “appearance”, “queue”, “receive”, “mischievous” and “accommodate”. If you never get these examples wrong and find yourself annoyed when the greengrocer wants to sell you potatoes with an apostrophe, you’re indeed the ideal candidate for Spellbound!
“Spellbound is a wonderful local addition to our M-Net 101 schedule,” says Jan du Plessis, Director: M-Net Channels. “Spelling bees have become all the rage across the world and while the contestants will be giving it a go on television, the entire family at home can test their own skills and brush up on their grammar. It’s education wrapped in great fun.”
Spellbound is produced for M-Net by Homebrew Films and will be screened on M-Net 101 on Sundays at 17:00 from 20 November 2016.
Click here to enter Spellbound
For FAQs click here.