Awkward moment show is halted until guest’s name is pronounced correctly

If you were tuned in to Channel 5 on Wednesday morning, you're likely still recovering from extreme cringe you experienced.

That was after Dawn Neesom, a guest host for Jeremy Vine, struggled to pronounce her guest's name - and her guest wasn't having it.

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu joined Dawn as a special guest and commentator on the show today and, although she's a TV regular, presenter Dawn had no clue how to pronounce her name.

Jeremy Vine/Channel 5

In her first attempt at an introduction, Dawn said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to be joined by lawyer Dr Shola - how do I pronounce your last name, Shola?"

Smiling back at the presenter, Dr Shola simply told her: "Read it, my darling, read it."

After Dawn attempted to sound it out, Dr Shola let out an exasperated sigh and told her: "So this is terrible, especially for a presenter-"

Shouting over her guest, Dawn agrees: "I am terrible! I can't remember Shola's name!"

While Dawn was clearly getting a little exasperated, Shola calmly told the presenter: "Go back and start again. Phonetically."

Dawn attempted: "Okay. Shola. Mos. Shog. Man. Imu!"

Still not impressed, Dr Shola simply replied: "Do it again."

"Oh, come on," Dawn begged. "I got the Shola right!"

But Dr Shola wasn't letting up.

"Do it again. Phonetically," she requested.

Jeremy Vine/Channel 5

Dawn gives it a second attempt, but still struggles to get it right.

Unwilling to give it a third try, and likely getting a little bit stressed about how long this introduction was taking, Dawn gave up, clapping her hands together and saying: "Shola... Shola! Welcome to the show!"

But Dr Shola wouldn't let her get away with it, and told Dawn: "No. You will say my name. Now read it phonetically."

A clip of the painfully awkward moment quickly went viral on Twitter, and people really weren't impressed with what they saw.

"How long have they been talking to and about Shola? Yet they can't pronounce her name," commented one Twitter user.

"My first thought was that her name wasn't spelt phonetically but it absolutely is," tweeted a second. "Double checking the pronunciation of someones name BEFORE going live with them should be basic for a presenter. If it's a name you don't know you could mistake pronunciation or stress."

Jeremy Vine/Channel 5

Praising Dr Shola for sticking to her guns, a third commented: "I love that she did this. And I love that she did it with so much grace."

Twitter

And a fourth, referring to Dr Shola's 2021 book This Is Why I Resist, added: "She didn’t write a whole chapter of her book called ‘Say My Name’ for these lot to be doing oops it’s hard to say soz x"

LADbible has reached out to representatives for Dawn Neesom for comment.

Topics: TV and Film

Ali Condon

Ali is a journalist for LADbible Group, writing on all things film, music, and entertainment across Tyla, LADbible and UNILAD. You can contact Ali at [email protected].

@alicondon