Eurovision's biggest star isn't even competing!
For viewers of the BBC News channel (or anyone who has a social media account), the face of Maryam Moshiri will now be very familiar.
The Tehran-born newsreader has become an online sensation over the last year thanks to her on-air blunders, deadpan humour and ability to laugh at herself.
Now, as she boasts a loyal following of fans online and makes headlines around the world with her antics, Maryam’s star is on the rise – and she has joined the broadcaster’s presenting team in Malmo, Sweden, for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Announcing her gig on X/Twitter last week after previously covering the event in the UK, the business journalist who graduated to the BBC’s main news bulletins said she was ‘so excited’ to be on the Eurovision team, adding: ‘I’m a massive fan of #Eurovision – Liverpool was amazing, hope #Malmo will be too.’
In response, people flocked to congratulate the newsreader and many were quick to joke she was surely opening the show with a countdown – a reference to a blunder which made her a household name in the UK.
Maryam Moshiri, the BBC presenter who has had several viral moments over the last year, is joining the corporation’s team in Malmo for the Eurovision Song Contest
As the BBC newsreader, who has worked for the broadcaster for 21 years, is lauded by fans as a ‘national icon’, she will no doubt be watched closely by her following as she presents from Malmo this weekend.
It is the second time the mother-of-three, who is married to LatinNews editor-in-chief Jonathan Farmer, has been listed on the presenting line-up for the annual music event – but this year she will be watched in anticipation by her new fans.
Maryam, who was born in Tehran and studied in London, joined the BBC in 2003 after working at Independent Radio News for two years. For most of her career, she worked in business reporting.
Maryam is married to LatinNews’s editor-in-chief Jonathan Farmer (pictured) with whom she shares three children
Maryam has three children, a dog called Juno (pictured) and a cat called Misty Avalon – both of whom have their own Instagram profiles
During her first 16 years at the broadcaster, Maryam was an anchor on BBC business programmes such as Talking Business and The Business Briefing.
However, in 2019 she became a news presenter on BBC News and BBC World News – which is where she made a name for herself as the corporation’s zaniest presenter.
Last year, Maryam, who is one of the network’s chief presenters, went viral after accidentally opening a BBC bulletin by giving viewers the middle finger – something which shocked some of her audience, but left many people in fits of laughter.
Over the last year, Maryam has won thousands of fans online who have fallen for her zany antics and comical lines
In the Maryam Moshiri can be seen raising her eyebrows and flipping off the camera as she comes on-screen after the programme’s famous musical countdown ends.
She then seems to quickly realise she is live and snatches her hand away before beginning to read out the headlines about Boris Johnson.
She later issued an apology for the mishap and insisted it was a ‘private joke’ with her team – something that caused yet more confusion among viewers.
Writing on social media, she said she ‘did not realise’ the moment would be caught on camera and she was ‘sorry if I offended or upset anyone’.
Among Maryam’s top moments is the segment in which she apologised for viewers that she didn’t have a photo of the super moon, and demonstrated it for them instead
More recently, she gave viewers what they wanted when she showed off her seagull impression after reporting on the Seagull Boy
She’s a woman of many talents: Maryam also recently gave herself the title of England’s Strongest Newsreader after bending a spoon back on itself live on air
She explained: ‘I was pretending to count down as the director was counting me down from 10-0… including the fingers to show the number.
‘So from 10 fingers held up to one. When we got to 1 I turned finger around as a joke and did not realise that this would be caught on camera.
‘It was a private joke with the team and I’m so sorry it went out on air! It was not my intention for this to happen and I’m sorry if I offended or upset anyone.
‘I wasn’t ‘flipping the bird’ at viewers or even a person really. It was a silly joke that was meant for a small number of my mates.’
Later, a full clip was leaked which showed Maryam’s full countdown. In the footage, she uses her fingers to count backwards from 10 before coming on air, accompanying each gong with a funny face.
The clip sent social media into another frenzy as people were left in stitches by her unintended prank and a campaign was launched to have her projected onto the London Eye as the nation rung in the new year of 2024.
The accidental middle finger isn’t the only of Maryam’s comical moments to have attracted attention, as she has also left viewers in stitches with her varied talents.
Last summer, when the UK geared itself up to see the super moon, the BBC presenter fronted a segment on the phenomenon which had left people in awe.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have footage or a photo to show viewers at the time, which may have left some people wanting – but she had a backup plan.
Raising her hands in front of her, she made a spherical shape and told her audience: ‘It looked a little bit like this, there you go.’
It was another clip that caught the attention of TV watchers, with journalist Scott Bryan posting the moment on X and describing it as ‘incredible scenes’.
In response, Maryam said: ‘I think it’s a pretty good impression given what I had to play with!!!’
Elsewhere, she showed off her ability to bend a spoon during a segment which showed a man crushing a frying pan with his hands.
In her deadpan style which viewers have come to love, she gave the audience exactly what they wanted.
She said: ‘I want to show you that I am, in fact, the strongest person here at the BBC.’
Maryam then held up the spoon, which she explained had come from the BBC’s canteen and was a ‘real spoon’, and proceeded to bend it entirely out of shape, letting out a groan as she strained while doing so.
Showing viewers the bent-out-of-shape spoon, she asked: ‘What do you reckon?’ before telling a co-worker: ‘I’d like to see you do that!’
The moment turned Maryam into a meme once again, and she joked on her Instagram page: ‘This is what happens to spoons that annoy me’ and referred to herself as #EnglandsStrongestNewsreader.
Most recently, Maryam delighted viewers with her seagull impression as she reported on Seagull Boy, who had won an award for his impersonation of the creature.
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