Spelling Bees are platforms to showcase the abilities of savants.
It’s hilarious to watch a parade of home-schooled Indian kids on the stage. Another black eye for expensive, futile public education.
The spelling bee issues a finite list of words so it’s possible to cover all the bases, which these kids do, memory lapses notwithstanding. It’s a bit silly to focus on obscure eyechart type words that are never used in everyday communication.