In news that we did not expect but thoroughly welcome, Nigella Lawson and her mîcrowhavé are up for an award at this year’s TV Baftas.
The TV cook sent the internet into meltdown in 2020, when she debuted her unusual pronunciation of the kitchen gadget on her BBC cookery show Cook Eat Repeat.
And now the viral moment has made the shortlist of the TV Baftas’ Must-See Moment Award, which celebrates the TV highlights of 2020.
Nigella and her mîcrowhavé face competition from Diversity’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent, which reflected on the events of 2020, including the Black Lives Matter movement, while EastEnders is also nominated for Chantelle Atkins’ death at the hands of abusive husband Gray.
Also nominated are Bridgerton for its Lady Whistledown reveal, Luke Skywalker’s appearance on The Mandalorian, and Gogglebox for its commentary on one of Boris Johnson’s press conferences.
The winner will be decided by a public vote and announced during the ceremony on 6 June.
The full list of this year’s TV Bafta nominations will also be unveiled on Wednesday morning.
After Nigella’s went viral last year, the chef later spoke out to assure people she doesn’t really believe that “microwave” is pronounced “mîcrowhavé”.
After one person tweeted that they initially thought Nigella was “being sarcastic” before “starting to think she really pronounces it like that”, she replied: “Well, I do say it like that, but not because I think that’s how it’s actually pronounced.”
Nigella told another person that it was a “camp joke that becomes a habit”, which made us love her even more.
Her spokesperson even issued a statement about the whole thing, which was read out on Greg James’ Radio 1 show.
“In a nutshell, it’s how Nigella refers to the microwave at home. It’s a bit of a family joke,” they said.
You can vote for the the TV Baftas’ Must-See Moment here.