- The 2019 Miss Universe competition will crown another pageant winner on Sunday, December 8,2019 on Fox.
- Back in 2015, Steve Harvey, who is hosting the show this year, accidentally announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez as the winner when it was really Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach.
- Here's the full story surrounding Steve's mistake.
Sunday marks the return of the Miss Universe pageant, which will once again be hosted by Family Feud frontman Steve Harvey. While Steve has proven to be a reliable pageant host for the past three years, it's nearly impossible to forget his giant flub in front of millions back in 2015. It was then that Steve wrongly announced that Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez had won the competition. Realizing that Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach was the actual winner, he had to walk back on stage and revoke his declaration.
"I have to apologize," Steve began before taking a long and awkward pause. "The first runner up is Colombia ... Miss Philippines, take your first walk as Miss Universe."
The blunder immediately took the world by surprise, prompting a flurry of reactions. Some were sympathetic toward Ariadna, while others were downright angry. In fact, The Miami Herald reported at the time that a Colombian law firm threatened to file a lawsuit, claiming that "the crown is an acquired right that cannot be taken away from us."
But outrage aside, how did the colossal mistake even happen?
As The Washington Post pointed out, some, including Miss Universe judge Perez Hilton, thought the flub was nothing more than a giant publicity stunt. The company behind the pageant, WME/IMG, quickly squashed that claim, with the organization's Chief Content Officer Mark Shapiro telling CBS Sports, "That’s just humorous. All I can do is just laugh that off."
Beyond that theory, multiple outlets reported at the time that the Miss Universe Snapchat story showed Steve saying that the teleprompter had said "Miss Universe—Colombia" on it.
But when talking with the press after the show, Steve insisted that it was really his "mistake." In a now-deleted tweet, where he misspelled both "Colombia" and "Philippines," Steve issued a second apology, again admitting that he had made the error. "This was a terribly honest human mistake and I am so regretful."
What's more, 2015 contestant Miss Australia Monika Radulovic told Good Morning America that "All the girls saw the teleprompter, 'Philippines, you may now take your first walk as Miss Universe.'"
However, the Miss Universe organization reiterated in a statement to People that it was nothing more than a mistake:
The excitement of live TV was evident last night on the Miss Universe stage with more than 10 million live fan votes tabulated. Unfortunately, a live telecast means that human error can come into play. We witnessed that when the wrong winner was initially announced. Our sincerest apologies to Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo, Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, their families and fans. We congratulate Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach as Miss Universe 2015.
In early 2016, Steve finally took the time to comprehensively explain what had happened from his perspective.
On his radio show, he said:
"Here’s the situation: Now, when the mistake was made, when I said the wrong woman’s name, I can only give information I had. No one knows, and that information is not in the teleprompter because you’ve got two women standing there. I read what was on the teleprompter, then I read what was on the card ... The difference being: On the card, it said first runner-up. Now, what happened, how it got like that, how it was done, how it was worked on, that’s neither here nor there. I said the name that was on the card. When I walked off, everything was cool … and then, after that, all h--l broke loose."
He continued to say that there was all sorts of chaos backstage, and a person in his ear was telling him "We gotta do something! We gotta do something!" Steve also took another opportunity to say, again, that he had made a "mistake."
Despite Steve's endless apologies, Miss Colombia was clearly upset. Speaking on Univision, the New York Daily News reports that she said: "In four minutes they destroy your dreams, they throw it in a bag, and they throw it in the trash."
Continuing, Ariadna explained, "They [the show] could have done it another way ... I feel like it doesn't matter to them the feelings of a girl who has worked her whole life for a dream." Following the incident, Ariadna went on to appear in Celebrity Big Brother, The World's Best, and the film XXX: Return of Xander Cage.
Like Ariadna, who went on to thrive after the incident, Steve has seemingly moved forward, as well. Although, his mess up did become the punchline of a joke last year when 2018 contender Miss Costa Rica Natalia Carvajal referenced the incident after Steve asked her for hosting tips.
"I think you're doing good. The outfit is fine, the smile is always great. But I have to give you one advice. Just for the future. Just in case," she said before asking him to come closer. "If they ever give you a really, really, really important envelope, try to read carefully, okay?"
Despite the hilarious shade, Steve didn't miss a beat.
"Y'all just won't let it go, huh?" he joked. "When you make a mistake, get up and keep going. I'm still here, baby!"
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