MasterChef Pronounces ‘Maggi Mee’ Differently & It Turns Out They’re Not Wrong


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Before we proceed, allow me to pose you a rather impertinent-sounding question:

How do you pronounce the ‘g’ in Maggi? A hard g like game, or a soft g like magic?

“Of course hard g lah,” our resident ah beng Ah Hock exclaims. “You think ping pong show ah, what soft g?”

And while I hate the guts of Ah Hock, I can’t help but side with him on this one:

I do, too, pronounce it as a hard g.

Yet, what if I tell you that there’s a different pronunciation of Maggi, whereby they use a soft g…

“What,” Ah Hock intervenes. “What kind of utter imbecile uses such a wrong-”

And they aren’t actually wrong?

“You trying to fool Limpeh ah? Limpei not born yesterday one you know. Show me the hard proof you son of a -“

Masterchef Pronounces ‘Maggi Mee’ Differently & It Turns Out They’re Not Wrong

If you’re a fan of cooking shows, you might have heard of culinary programme MasterChef: Back to Win, which is currently airing on Australian TV.

Image: Daily Mail

And well, it so happens that on Thursday’s (21 May) episode, the contestants were challenged to “pimp up” the popular instant noodles.

But it’s not so much of the contestants’ deft culinary skills that made the headlines, as it is of the pronunciation of the noodle brand itself.

During a 10-second commercial that aired during the show’s immunity challenge, the voiceover explicitly pronounced Maggi with a soft g:

As “madge-gee” (sounds like “magic”).

Image: Meme Generator

Well, you’re not alone. Many viewers were reportedly taken aback as well.

You can view the contrasting commercial below:


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Moreover, this episode is sponsored by Maggi themselves.

Some viewers, in particular, refused to accept it and commented:

“No. The ad is pronouncing Maggi wrong! It’s a hard g, it’s not like magic!”.

And honestly, I can see where they’re coming from. It’s like realising that Singapore is pronounced with a soft g.

The utter bafflement.


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But The Thing’s That…

The pronunciation we’re trying so hard to correct might not actually be… well… wrong.

As it turns out, according to the official Madge-gee website, the pronunciation really depends on the country itself. In the United States, for instance, Maggi is pronounced with a “hard g”. But for some other countries, including Australia, it’s pronounced with a “soft g”.

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“It depends on the country. In the US, we pronounce it with a ‘hard g’ as in ‘magnet’, but in some countries, it’s pronounced with a ‘soft g’ as in ‘magic’.”

Wow, that culture difference. Though if you think about it, Maggi must have received a ton of inquiries about the correct pronunciation to actually include a clause for it on its site.

Image: Giphy

Well, well, I guess you do learn something new every day.

But don’t worry, Singapore is pronounced with a “hard g”. No question about it, because Maggi was Goody Feed client before and that was how the folks pronounced it, too: straight from the horse’s mouth.


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By my estimation, it’s a 99.98% proven fact… until MasterChef does something again.

And to understand why Singaporeans and Malaysians call any instant noodle brand Maggi Mee, watch this video (and also check out our YouTube channel, please!):