The winner of the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee joined CNN's "New Day" on Friday morning, and the show's co-hosts took the opportunity to ask her to spell "covfefe."
President Trump wrote the word "covfefe" in a Twitter typo late Tuesday night, causing a media firestorm. The word dominated news coverage for much of the following day.
The request by Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo seemed to confuse Ananya Vinay, the 12-year old spelling champion, Mediaite reported.
"We have a challenge for you. We'd like you to spell a word," Camerota said.
"It has recently become popular, not sure if you're familiar with it or if you know the definition. Do you know the word 'covfefe?'" she asked a seemingly puzzled Vinay.
The hosts continued the joke, giving the word the false definition of "a nonsense word made up by the 45th president of the United States in a late-night tweet," while showing a false dictionary entry on the screen.
After continuing the prank, Vinay gave her best shot at spelling the word, omitting a "v" from her attempt.
"Good enough!" Cuomo exclaimed.
"Close. You win." Camerota said.
The segment ended with Cuomo congratulating Vinay on giving the "only good answer we've heard about that word in days," while Camerota reiterated that the word is "nonsense."