It's time to watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals. Spellers will gather again this year to face a slightly different set of challenges. But what is victory without adapting to new adversities?

The competition has two new innovations to help determine the winner without running out of time. In the new "spell-off" round, competitors (if there are enough of them at the end of the game) are given 90 seconds to spell as many words as possible. The person who spells the most words correctly will then win. In addition, there will be word problems. This is not your average bee.

Interestingly, this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals borrows from the 2020 NBA season. It will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, not in Washington, D.C. The reason for this is that it is the perfect venue for social distancing during the NBA's wildly popular season.

The spelunkers and officials followed health and safety protocols, including physical distancing.

What are they spelling for? The big rewards were a $50,000 cash prize, a commemorative medal, and the Scripps Cup championship trophy. Merriam-Webster, a partner in the event, will provide $2,500 in prize money and reference books, and the winner will also receive a reference book worth $400. [The ages range from 10-year-old Vivinsha Vedul to the 14-year-old trio of Sreetan Gajra, Ashrita Gandhari, and Zaira Avantgarde.

If you have to leave your "bubble" and find yourself in an area without ESPN2 or TSN2 and cannot watch a live stream of The Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals on cable TV, you are out of luck! You're not out of luck. With a virtual private network (VPN), you can pretend that you are surfing the web from your hometown (or anywhere else where power outages don't occur) and access the same streaming services that you have already paid for.

Not sure which VPN is right for you? We tested a variety of services and chose ExpressVPN as the best VPN overall. They offer great speed and excellent customer service. However, there are other VPN options out there. Here are our top picks.

In the US, the Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals will air today, Thursday, July 8, at 8 pm ET.

If you do not have a cable subscription, you can watch Spellers on YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV, and FuboTV.

We recommend Sling TV and Fubo, which are two of our picks for the best streaming services; ESPN2 is included in the $35/month Sling Orange package, which is currently on sale for $10 for the first month; Fubo is $65/month but includes more channels.

You may not be able to watch The Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals in the UK. We are having a hard time finding a network or service in the UK that will host this event.

Spelling fans have TSN; TSN2 hosts The Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals in Canada.