Samantha Steele Mixes Up Her Indian-American Spelling Bee Contestants

After a National Spelling Bee filled with children holding back tears in front of a national audience, the academic equivalent of pageant moms, and every appearance from the wonderfully weird home-schooled girl from Philly, it took ESPN's poor sideline reporter to give us the most cringeworthy moment of the night. Samantha Steele was ready to interview the winner, Snigdha Nandipati, but stared expectantly at runner-up Stuti Mishra for a few painful seconds before exclaiming, "Oh sorry, I'm looking at the wrong girl!"

Oof. So awkward.

Steele apologized on Twitter, saying she had assumed the winner would be standing next to her when she turned from the camera. Which is totally plausible, and shifts the gaffe from the "all brown people look alike" narrative to one where Steele probably should have read the big signs around the girls' necks, which have their names in giant block lettering.