“I was confused. I wasn’t sure what was going on”, said Wurtzbach upon hearing that she was the actual victor. She was still celebrating when Harvey returned to the stage to make an announcement. Finally, she approached Gutierrez-Arévalo and stood by as last year’s victor, Paulina Vega, took the crown off of Ms. Colombia and placed it on her head.
Advertisement
“Let me just take control of this”, Harvey told the flummoxed contestants and audience.
Harvey did not stick around, swiftly heading for stage right as Miss Philippines took her place beside Miss Colombia, still clutching her flowers and wearing the crown.
Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines are both handsome women.
– Steve Harvey (@IAmSteveHarvey) December 21, 2015 I don’t want to take away from this unbelievable night and pageant.
“Unfortunately, a live telecast means that human error can come into play”, it said.
But billionaire property tycoon and Republican US presidential hopeful Mr Trump offended Hispanics in June when he made anti-immigrant remarks in announcing his Republican presidential run.
At the one climatic moment of the show, The Miss Universe host named the wrong victor. As it turned out, he’d read the card wrong and mixed up the victor and the first runner-up.
The Miss Universe crown went this year to the contestant from the Philippines, but only after the runner-up from Colombia was accidentally crowned.
Trump later sold Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants to WME-IMG.
She has since expressed her sentiment about the fiasco, stating, “Everything happens for a reason, so I’m happy. As well as the wonderful contestants – they were all awesome”, he said, adding that he also wanted to apologise to the viewers that he “disappointed” with the “honest mistake”.
Advertisement
“It’s a very non-traditional crowning, isn’t it?”
