Kavya tops TV hosts in contest

Spelling champ to return home Friday

Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe appeared Tuesday on “Live with Regis and Kelly” in New York.

It was the conclusion of Kavya’s East Coast media tour after winning the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee last week in Washington, D.C.

In honor of the 13-year-old’s victory, co-host Kelly Ripa and guest co-host Pat Sajak, who was filling in for co-host Regis Philbin, competed against Kavya in a spelling contest.

Kavya won the competition, correctly spelling such words as “Borborygmus,” “Scherenschnitte” and “Anthropophagous.” During the competition, she made the audience and co-hosts laugh when she asked Sajak, the host of Wheel of Fortune, if she could buy a vowel.

Kavya and her family flew Tuesday night to Los Angeles. They are VIP guests at Walt Disney Land today. Kavya will make an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live at 11 p.m. Thursday on KMBC-9, the ABC affiliate.

Kavya will arrive back home at 4 p.m. Friday on Midwest Airlines at Kansas City International Airport.

Mirle Shivashankar, Kavya’s father, said Tuesday that she has enjoyed making television appearances and doing media interviews, but looks forward to coming home.

She received congratulatory phone calls from Kansas U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback and State Sen. Karin Brownlee. The city of Olathe, in conjunction with The Olathe News, which sponsored Kavya at the Scripps Bee, will have a reception for her on June 16 at City Hall.