Celebrity Masterchef viewers got into a flurry of debate on Thursday as they questioned the debate over a dish that is a Ukrainian staple.
In a one-off Christmas special, viewers saw four food critics compete against each other with dishes to win over the judges.
In the kitchen were Leyla Kazim, William Sitwell, Jimi Famurewa and Jay Rayner, with the latter eventually crowned the winner.
But it was yet another contestant who left some fans scratching their heads as they questioned the ruling of his chosen dish.
During the segment, William Sitwell delivered a homemade Chicken Kiev, but the dish was repeatedly pronounced “Chicken Kyiv.”
Celebrity Masterchef viewers got into a flurry of debate on Thursday as they questioned the debate over a dish that is a Ukrainian staple
During the show, William Sitwell delivered a homemade Chicken Kiev, but the dish was repeatedly pronounced 'Chicken Kyiv'
The ruling, which was again adopted by the Ukrainians after Russia's invasion of the country in February 2022, surprised many viewers.
One posted: 'WTH… have I been saying it wrong all these years???,' and another shared: '#masterchef we're all calling it wrong, it should be chick keev not chicken kieyev.'
A third posted: “So, are there any other obviously uneducated souls who still pronounce it kip kiev, instead of kip keeev?”
“Just found out I mispronounced chicken Kiev,” someone added.
'Kiev' was the standardized spelling for the city under Soviet rule, but recent Russian aggression has seen more and more Western institutions heed calls to abandon the city in favor of the Ukrainian alternative.
And after the invasion began last year, many consumers called on supermarkets to rename the dish Chicken Kviv.
Scott Clarke agreed, asking Marks & Spencers if they could make the change 'as a small gesture of solidarity with our Ukrainian friends'.
The British government has for years referred to its embassy as being located in 'Kiev', and an internet archive shows that this was the case until registration began in 2014.
The ruling, which was re-adopted by Ukrainians after Russia's invasion of the country in February 2022, has caught many viewers off guard.
The capital of Ukraine is known as Київ in Ukrainian and Киев in Russian. Both terms have no direct translation in the Roman alphabet, with Kiev, Kiev, Kiev or Kiyev all being possible.
But the spelling 'Kiev' is intrinsically linked to the old USSR due to its widespread use by the British and Americans while the city was under Soviet rule.
This continued after independence in 1991, until 'Kiev' was legally adopted by the Ukrainian government.
It was only during the 2014 Maidan uprising that the issue entered public consciousness, with the ouster of pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych and the establishment of a new government that sought closer ties with the West.
Young Ukrainians see 'Kiev' as a relic of the Soviet past, and this view is now shared by the government, which launched a 'KievNotKiev' campaign in 2018.