The Miss Universe contestant from the Philippines is this year’s winner but for one brief moment Sunday evening, it appeared as if it might be a repeat win for Colombia. Colombia contestant Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo was already wearing the crown as this year’s Miss Universe winner when host Steve Harvey returned to apologize.
Harvey says it was his mistake and that he would take responsibility for not reading the card correctly that named contestant Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach this year’s winner and Colombia the first runner-up. Talking with members of the press afterward, Harvey and an executive for pageant owner WME-IMG called it human error.
“Nobody feels worse about this than me,” he said.
A mystified Wurtzbach appeared stunned as she walked to the front of the stage alongside the crown-wearing Arevalo before last year’s Miss Universe from Colombia removed the crown and placed it on Wurtzbach’s head instead.Harvey also apologized on Twitter, but at first misspelled the home countries of both contestants before also correcting that.advertisement | advertise on newsday
“I’d like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia & Miss Philippines for my huge mistake,” he wrote. “I feel terrible.”
Even before Sunday night’s inexplicable oops moment, the pageant was involved in another controversy when a backlash against the pageant’s former owner Donald Trump led Univision to pull out of the broadcast and the businessman to sell it in September.
In another message on the Miss Universe Facebook page, Miss Colombia said she was still “happy” while wiping away tears.Everything happens for a reason … I’m so happy, thankyou for voting for me,” she said.
NewsDay