The eventual winner, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, a Filipino-German actress
and model born in Stuttgart and raised in Cagayan de Oro, was initially
runner-up.
The host of the Miss
Universe pageant mistakenly announced the wrong winner on Sunday, who
then had to give up the crown and hand it over to a 26-year-old actress
and model from the Philippines.
It was
the first edition of the annual beauty show since it was thrust into
controversy when then co-owner and U.S. presidential candidate, Donald
Trump, made disparaging remarks about immigrants.
Host
Steve Harvey incorrectly announced that Miss Colombia had won the 64th
edition of the contest, broadcast live on the Fox television network.
The
eventual winner, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, a Filipino-German actress and
model born in Stuttgart and raised in Cagayan de Oro, was initially
runner-up.
But them Harvey announced to the audience that he had made a gaffe.
Ariadna
Gutierrez Arévalo, 21, of Sincelejo, Colombia, had already been crowned
by Miss Universe of 2014, Paulina Vega of Barranquilla, Colombia, who
was forced to remove the crown and give it to Miss Philippines. Olivia
Jordan, 27, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, finished third.
"I'd
like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines
for my huge mistake," Harvey said on Twitter. "I feel terrible."
Wurtzbach appeared to take the blunder in her stride.
"It's
a very non-traditional crowning moment," she said backstage afterward
in a video clip of a conversation with Miss USA posted by the Miss
Universe pageant on its Twitter feed. "It is very 2015."
Earlier, when asked why she wanted to be Miss Universe, Wurtzbach said: "I
will use my voice to influence the youth and I would raise awareness to
certain causes like HIV awareness, that is timely and relevant to my
country."
It was the first Miss Universe title for a contestant from the Philippines in more than 40 years.
Tags
World