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After winning a MasterChef challenge with a Malaysian-inspired dish, contestant Jaime Tan has apologised for one detail that sparked debate among Malaysians: the way she pronounced roti canai
The Malaysian-American content creator, who is representing Malaysia on Season 16 of MasterChef: Global Gauntlet, recently addressed the backlash in a video after clips from the show went viral online.
In the episode, Jaime impressed judges Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich, and Tiffany Derry with a spread featuring roti canai, Malaysian coconut curry, coconut rice, and a cucumber-pineapple salad.
The dish ultimately won the 'World Cup Cookoff' challenge, earning Jaime immunity and praise from the judges.
However, Malaysians were quick to notice that she pronounced canai with a hard 'K' sound, saying 'roti kanai' instead of the local pronunciation, 'roti cha-nai'
Now, Jaime has responded to the criticism.
"It makes me sad to disappoint so many Southeast Asians," she said in her video.
"I know how important it is to people, so I just wanted to say I'm sorry. It was not intentional at all. I do not mean to misrepresent a national dish on television."
She added that the pronunciation was simply a mistake and that she now knows how to say it correctly.
Jaime says she wasn't raised in Malaysia but still feels deeply connected to her roots
In the video, Jaime explained that while she identifies strongly with her Malaysian heritage, she grew up in the US and had limited exposure to Malaysian communities.
"I wasn't raised in Malaysia. I'm Malaysian-American and we do not have many Malaysians here," she said.
She shared that her father is from Johor and that her grandparents once owned a kopitiam.
"Feeling like I was carrying that and representing Malaysia on the show was just so meaningful to me, so of course, I'm upset at myself," she added.
Beyond the pronunciation debate, Jaime revealed that she had already been highly critical of her own performance before the episode even aired
She explained that making roti canai within the challenge's 60-minute time limit was a huge risk, as the dough typically requires a much longer resting period to properly develop gluten.
"The minute I finished my roti, I knew that it was not a perfect roti," she said.
Despite that, she decided to proceed because she wanted to showcase a Malaysian dish on one of the competition's biggest stages.
"Guys, I did a Malaysian coconut curry, rice without a rice cooker, a pickled salad, and roti from scratch in 60 minutes. Spare me please."
Jaime added that while she knew the roti might not be perfect, she believed the flavours of the dish represented Malaysia well.
"I will say I do think that the flavour was there because Gordon really liked it. He liked my curry a lot. I think I did my curry well."
Ending her apology video on a lighter note, she joked:
"Guys, I may not be able to say roti canai properly, but I can open a durian with my bare hands and I think that's pretty Malaysian."
Watch her apology video here:
