The writers strike opened the floodgate for even more reality shows on network television than one could have wished for or wanted.

Challenges from high school classmates, nannies and partner swappers were on par with those in past seasons that tempted people to eat insects and perform other sensible acts.

Even the venerable “Good Morning America” subjected its on-air talent to skydives, bungee jumps and face-offs with bees. Workers compensation must not be a concern for the network owned by Disney.

But the most educational — using the term loosely — reality show was adults taking on children in homework and losing.

For those who reside in Southeastern Tennessee, there was an opportunity earlier in the spring to witness something very real — young people competing for the local spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.

Eighty-five participated in the 16-round elimination.

Garry Grimes, NIE coordinator for the Times Free Press, shared this bee moment: “One of our spellers couldn’t pronounce “gregarious.” She asked if she could just sit down, but at the urging of the pronouncer, the stage full of kids and the audience, she spelled it correctly.”

The winning word for Danielle Sahud, an eighth-grader at Jasper Middle School, was “denigratory.” She proudly told Times Free Press writer Matt Wilson that there was no guessing in her correct answer.

The word that knocked David Brainerd Christian School seventh-grader Spencer Early out of the competition was “plasmalemma.”

A few other competitive words were “witloof,” “azimuth,” “zeitgeber,” “mynheer,” “hemerocallis,” “coati,” “edelweiss,” “tokamak” and “ocarina.” One of the easier offerings was “sassafras.”

For those of you who recorded a perfect score (not in spelling since these were triple-checked) but in the definitions, send in your most challenging word for our reader spelling bee.

For those who are willing to admit that you were puzzled by some of the words (I admit that I was), then read on for more meaning. You too should send in your best word offering.

* Witloof: n, a salad green

* Azimuth: n, an angular measurement used to locate an object, star

* Zeitgeber: n, a stimulus that affects an organism’s biological clock

* Mynheer: n, title such as mister

* Hemerocallis: n, a day lily

* Coati: n, nose, any of a genus of small, tree-dwelling raccoonlike carnivores

* Edelweiss: n, a little white flower; song from “Sound of Music”

* Tokamak: n, a reactor designed to control nuclear fusion in a plasma of ions and electrons inside doughnut-shaped bottle

* Ocarina: n, small, simple wind instrument shaped like sweet potato; found in Legend of Zelda

The spelling and definitions are from Webster’s New World College Dictionary.

You will impress Scrabble players with these words, but be careful because the complete list is not in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, Onyx Edition.

The Times Free Press, a purveyor of words every day and a frequent contributor to correcting misspelled words, gladly hosts and recognizes the young people who compete in the local spelling bee.

That is reality.

P.S. For those who are wondering, the winning word — “denigratory” — is an adjective that means to defame or blacken, and the disqualifying word — “plasmalemma” — is a noun that means a cell membrane.