A MasterChef win turned into an online talking point for Malaysian-American contestant Jaime Tan after viewers picked up on one detail from her viral episode — how she pronounced “roti canai”.
Tan impressed judges Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Tiffany Derry during the ‘World Cup Cookoff’ on MasterChef: Global Gauntlet with a Malaysian-inspired menu that included roti canai, coconut curry, coconut rice and a cucumber-pineapple salad.
The dish earned her immunity and praise from the panel. However, clips from the episode spread quickly online for a different reason.
Some Malaysian viewers questioned her pronunciation of roti canai, saying they heard a hard “k” sound instead of the local “cha-nai”. The moment sparked wider conversation online about how even small details of national dishes can carry cultural weight, especially when featured on global television.
In a follow-up video, Tan directly addressed the reaction and apologised, saying she did not intend to mispronounce the dish. She explained that she was not raised in Malaysia, although she has family roots there — her father is from Johor and her grandparents once ran a kopitiam. She said representing Malaysia on an international stage felt meaningful but also came with added pressure.
She also responded to criticism of the dish itself, pointing to the constraints of the 60-minute challenge. According to Tan, roti canai typically requires hours of dough preparation and resting time, which makes it difficult to execute perfectly within the time limit. She said she knew it would not be flawless but still wanted to attempt a full Malaysian spread.
Tan added that she felt more emotional during the episode than it appeared on screen, saying she had already been second-guessing the result before judging.
While she avoided reading most online comments, she acknowledged that much of the criticism echoed doubts she had already placed on herself. She maintained that the flavours worked, particularly her curry, which received positive feedback from the judges.
She ended her response on a lighter note, apologising again for the pronunciation but joking that she can still open a durian with her bare hands — a small nod, she said, to her Malaysian connection despite the debate over roti canai.
