San Angelo's Own Spelling Bee Prodigy on Dancing with the Stars Junior Sunday

 

SAN ANGELO, TX – Nine-year-old Akash Vukoti, a San Angelo native, will be competing on Dancing with the Stars Junior on Sunday October 7 on ABC at 8 p.m. The 4th grade boy is the youngest ever Scripps National Spelling Bee competitor.

He started reading when he was just 18 months old and has been participating in spelling bees since he was two. He became a member of American Mensa at the age of three and a Davidson Young Scholar at five years old. He can now read and write three languages fluently: English, Telugu and Hindi.

2016 was his breakout year when he first competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the age of six. During the bee, he addressed the Press Conference and was the Kid Correspondent for “Good Morning America.” He then gained world-wide fame when he was featured on Steve Harvey’s tv show “Little Big Shots” and he also competed against Jimmy Kimmel for a spelling competition on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

After failing to qualify for the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee, he returned in 2018, earning a spot as a wild card. He received the chance to interview and host several news channels. He was the News Reporter for the Bee TV (Official Scripps National Spelling Bee TV) and interviewed Dr. Jacques Bailly at the 2018 Bee as the ESPN Reporter.

He has appeared on other talk shows such as: “Little Big Shots-UK,” the “Harry Show,” "Fox & Friends" and “The Preachers.” Vukoti has also filmed commercials for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Amazon Kindle, ESPN, and been featured on BBC & HBO Documentaries and in the award-winning documentary film “Breaking the Bee.”

This is the first year ever for Dancing with the Stars Junior to premiere. The co-hosts will be two DWTS season 25 finalists, child actor and race car driver Frankie Muniz and Broadway star Jordan Fisher. The three judges will be Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, professional DWTS dancer Val Chmerkovskiy and DWTS choreographer Mandy Moore.

Catch Akash Vukoti and his dancing partner Kamri Peterson on Sundays and vote so he can stay in the competition!

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