WITH Thanksgiving just around the corner, TODAY Show hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb sparked a heated debate on live television over the pronunciation of a holiday-favorite pie.
The back-and-forth came during as the Morning show hosts were discussing TODAY’s “Top Pie Bracket” one week before the American holiday.
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Joined by TODAY’s Dylan Dreyer, Craig Melvin, Sheinelle Jones and Carson Daly, the hosts discussed which pies viewers across the nation voted as their favorite.
“The Top Pie Bracket, I haven’t been here for this. Yesterday, I don’t know what–” Carson started out the discussion.
“You missed a lot,” Craig chimed in.
“Final four, thousands of you went on line. That’s not true, tens of you went online to vote,” Carson continued with a laugh.
“So let’s see which slices will be heading to the Turkey Day for the top two.”
During the Thursday morning segment, the hosts revealed that Apple Pie had beaten out Sweet Potato Pie to face off against Pumpkin, which came out on top against Chocolate Cream Pie.
On the other side of the bracket, Pecan Pie came out ahead of Strawberry Rhubarb to go up against Cherry, which beat out Blueberry Pie.
After another round of voting, the final showdown was set to be between Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie.
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Carson took Apple Pie’s loss to heart, calling the result “baloney.”
“That’s like the Georgia Bulldogs losing to the community college I went to,” he said to laughter.
Soon after, Carson called out several chefs appearing on Thursday’s show – including Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, and Martha Stewart – to stand in favor of Pumpkin or Pecan pie.
Quickly, the discussion turned into a debate about the pronunciation of the latter dessert.
“Now how do we say it?” one of the chefs said with Hoda.
“Puh-khan!”
“I thought we say pee-can!” Savannah then said to Craig, who quickly agreed.
“We do say pee-can,” he said.
The debate over the pronunciation of Pecan Pie has long been debated, with much of the divide seen between Northern and Southern states.
Previously, a survey conducted by the National Pecan Shellers Association found that nearly half of Americans – 45% – use the pronunciation “pee-can.”
The majority of those respondents – 70% – lived in the Northeast.
In the studio, the debated dish won by a narrow vote, however after a final vote among viewers, Pumpkin Pie took home the nationwide win.
According to TODAY, Pumpkin won with 58% of the votes while Pecan only had 42%.
What will you be opting for this Thanksgiving?