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One of the few that rattled her on Thursday was “nepeta,” a genus of herbs.

Avant-garde admitted Friday that she thought one word would end her run: “nepeta,” a genus of flowering plants that includes catnip.

Avant-garde claimed the $50,000 top prize after appearing relaxed and bantering with the judges and moderators, despite her struggle with 'Nepeta,' a word for another plant genus.

Only one word gave her any real trouble, "nepeta," a genus of Old World mints, and she jumped even higher when she got that one right than she did when she took the trophy.

Zaila had earlier in the evening hesitated over the word nepeta, a herbal mint, but managed to spell it correctly.