Steve Harvey’s Miss Universe fail: Harvey ‘crowns’ the wrong contestant

Talk about a “d’oh moment!” Live television is often unpredictable and accidents can (and do) happen. The latest victim of live TV oopsies is comedian Steve Harvey.

While hosting the (Trump-less) Miss Universe pageant on Sunday night, the 58-year-old host of Family Feud mistakenly announced that Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo, won the crown. Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurzbach, was left on stage thinking she was the second runner-up. While Miss Columbia was taking her victory lap, Harvey announced “I have to apologize.” At first, it almost sounded like a joke, (and you could hear some laughter from the audience) but Steve continued, “The first runner up is Columbia. Miss Universe 2015 is Philippines.”

Miss Philippines then came further downstage and stood next to Miss Columbia, who was still wearing the crown. Harvey said “Listen, folks, let me just take control of this. This is exactly what’s on the card. I will take responsibility for this…. The first runner up is Columbia… please don’t hold it against the ladies… it’s still a great night.” After that Miss Universe 2014 took the crown from Miss Columbia’s head and placed it on Miss Philippines. Poor Adrianna. She got the crown and sash for a brief moment, only to have it taken away. Ouch. That’s gotta hurt.

An apologetic Steve took to Twitter to say he was sorry, tweeting “I’d like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia & Miss Philippines for my huge mistake. I feel terrible.” He followed up with, “Secondly, I’d like to apologize to the viewers at that I disappointed as well. Again it was an honest mistake.” He later said on Snapchat that he was misinformed about the winner because of a TelePrompTer error.

The new (actual) Miss Universe, Pia Alonzo Wurzbach had this to say of the mix-up, “None of this was done on purpose. It was an honest mistake,” she said, adding that the embarrassed host told her afterward that she “should just enjoy the moment.” The Miss Universe organization released the following statement, “The excitement of live TV was evident tonight on The Miss Universe stage with over 10 million live fan votes tabulated. Unfortunately, a live telecast means that human error can come into play. We witnessed that tonight when the wrong winner was initially announced. Our sincerest apologies to Miss Universe Colombia 2015, Ariadna Gutierrez-Arévalo, Miss Universe Philippines 2015, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, their families and fans.”

It was an honest mistake, and Steve’s fans seem to agree. It did bring attention to the pageant though, didn’t it? After the Trump scandal, I’m sure the organization didn’t mind the publicity!

 

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87 Responses to “Steve Harvey’s Miss Universe fail: Harvey ‘crowns’ the wrong contestant”

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  1. Wiffie says:

    This has to be publicity, right? Mess with the teleprompter, to make him mess up, and make the news? This is the only reason I know it was on last night…. I can’t be the only one.

    • Lama Bean says:

      I never thought of that. You guys are nice about his Twitter post. He said he apologized to Miss Phillipians and Miss Columbia for the error.

      I feel bad for him for that embarrassment but I had to chuckle at Miss Phillipians.

      • V4Real says:

        Well we now know he tweets his own tweets.

        Donald Trump suggested having the ladies share the crown as co- winners.

      • TheSageM says:

        It’s also Colombian, not Columbian.

      • Lama Bean says:

        @thesagem, yes I’m aware of the correct spelling. I intentionally spelled it the same as it was in the tweet. I highlighted the Phillipians because I thought that was funnier.

      • Red says:

        Lama Bean, please dont feel bad for this awful sexist!!! Can you believe he is being rewarded for his woman hating ways with a career revival? Aside from that ridiculously named book and Hollywood film, “Think like a man, act like a woman” (SERIOUSLY, Hollywood?!!), he also has a talk show whos sole purpose is to remind women their place and excuse bad male behavior. Its fitting that he is now also hosting this bovine market show.

        So enjoy every moment of his humilation. Whatever he is going through is nothing compared to what he said to some woman on his show who was resisting her husbands ultimatum on getting a breast lift. He told her she should view her fear of surgery as a summountable challenge and “do whatever it takes to fix her marriage”. I repeat….PLEASE DONT FEEL SORRY FOR THIS DOUCHE.

      • V4Real says:

        Cedric The Entertainer is that you?

      • whatthe says:

        Ha!!

      • Red says:

        Yo atleast Cedric was occassionally funny. Who knows who Steve Harvey slept with to score that yawntastic “sitcom”. Now he shows up on televangelist shows faux-sobbing about what a sinner he still is. Just be a better human being you douche.

        Listen up, non- black people and black people who are blessedly free of Steve Harvey news, he is a terrible man. We should all join together in hoping that a hole would open up and swallow him up whole.

    • Bridget says:

      My thoughts too. This is the most we’ve heard about the Miss Universe pageant in a long, long time. How many people could have actually told you it was on TV last night if this hadn’t happened?

      • Cynthia says:

        @Bridget, I said the same thing as well. Can anyone name last year’s winner?
        If I were the organization, I will have him host again next year, ratings will be through the roof because people will tune in to see if he will make a mistake.

      • FLORC says:

        Too big of an error to be on purpose. This could and apparently already has brought real threats against Harvey and his family. It got scary really quickly! I can’t imagine that would be agreed upon. And ruining the moment for both ladies.

      • Bridget says:

        I don’t know… it’s a dying institution. They’ve gotten be desperate at this point.

    • Fluff says:

      It didn’t involve a teleprompter, he was reading off a card.

      • Miss Melissa says:

        The card is a prop and backup. There is always prompter.

        And the card was correct.

        There is always a producer in not only talent’s ear, but the ear of everyone on the production: stage managers, camera, etc. If you grant him that he “misspoke” and announced the wrong winner, it still doesn’t explain how she was crowned and did the walk with producers talking to everyone, everywhere.

        I’m not buying this. I fear this was a publicity stunt gone wrong.

      • Bridget says:

        I agree with Miss Melissa, but it just seems so cruel the way they made Miss Columbia hand over that crown. Sheesh. And it’s still not going to make me tune in next year.

    • ekaterina says:

      There is no teleprompter for announcing the winner, it was already said. I really hope it was an error n not some publicity by Trump to boost ratings. Feel for Miss Columbia.

  2. wrinkled says:

    He also misspelled Philippines and Colombia in his initial tweet.

  3. lisa2 says:

    It was a mistake.. I saw the card that showed the winner and it was not done well. It did look like it was showing 1 and 2. with 1 being the winner.. The winner was at the bottom of the card to the right.. So I can see how that was confusing. But nobody died.. it was a mistake

    I saw some reports saying they should Share the title. WHY?.. Yes the woman that lose is disappointed. But she didn’t win; despite the mistake. It is not necessary to go over the top to protect someones feelings. She is going to get way more attention than the actual winner. So things will work out for her.

    But Social Media as predicted is going NUTS. Get ready for a couple of weeks of this.

    Welcome to what happens now when you misstep.

  4. escondista says:

    Just let both women take photos and represent Miss Universe charities for the year.

    We’ve all had snafus and gaffes, just not on (inter)national television. Be embarrassed, set things right, then move on with life.

  5. FLORC says:

    I would be MORTIFIED! Harvey messed up and admitted it, but it doesn’t undo it.
    To have both ladies walk up to transfer crown seemed too far and humiliating.

    What a bitter sweet win too. You can’t be happy when someone is crying horribly near you.

    And i’m curious by Miss C’s comments later trying to make sure people don’t blame her. Why would people blame her?

    • Diana B says:

      That’s Colombia for you honey. She was just being proactive since the whole country is losing its damn mind over this. You should see my FB feed all full with racist comments about the presenter and filled with outraged for our stealed crown.

    • Diana B says:

      They suck. Ant the worst part is when people get outraged at being called racist. “I have many black friends” is the default defense. It is truly revolting. But like I said, that’s Colombia for ya! the country of the sacred heart is full of contradiction and irony,

  6. MC2 says:

    He should have also apologized for his jacket….

  7. Susan says:

    We happened to be flipping channels when it all went down. All I can say is if you look up the word “awkward” in the dictionary…there is a video of this moment. Cringe city.

  8. Wiffie says:

    At least she can say she WAS crowned miss universe. She doesn’t need to say how long she held the title. That’s a way better story for the grandkids than just being first runner up from the get go!

  9. Zaid says:

    I was watching and it felt like a movie haha
    It was so embarrassing, but at least he owned it up and call the right winner.
    I dont know if it was staged or not, he looked really embarrassed, but Ive never followed him so I dont know.

    Im just glad Phillipines won over Sofia Vergara .2.

    • artpunk44 says:

      Me too! I was channel surfing and ending up sticking on it, it was so surreal when they switched crowns. I thought Miss Colombia looked exactly like Sofia Vergara 2.0, and while she is beautiful, I’m glad Miss Philippines won

  10. TessD says:

    Knowing how this things usually go and how little interest there has been in this show for years now, I’m fairly certain this was not a mistake. Even the VMA’s are encouraging their stars to do something that would get more publicity for the awards and Miss Universe needs it badly.
    The girl were probably not on the joke, but Steve and the producers coming up with this little mishap is a very plausible scenario. Nothing wrong with that – the girls will get over and the show is all over the news, mission accomplished.

  11. Jenns says:

    Yes, this was embarrassing. But what is even 1000x more embarrassing is that a show that parades women around and rates them still exists.

  12. runCMC says:

    Pet peeve: when people spell it Columbia. It’s Colombia. Please fix in the article!

    • Diana B says:

      Yesssssss! Please, PLEASE spell it correctly. Co-LOM-bia.

    • Erinn says:

      I did not know that was the correct spelling. I’m making a note to myself – I think having to write out British Columbia so much in grade school (while learning the provinces) has got me used to the incorrect spelling.

  13. Velvet Elvis says:

    That was one of the most awkward tv moments ever. Those poor ladies both looked mortified. Eh…they will both laugh at this someday.

  14. JenniferJustice says:

    I didn’t watch it on T.V. last night, but I heard about this on the radio this morning on the way to work. They said this isn’t the first time this has happened because the card the emcee reads the winner from lists the four runners up and the one to be crowned last. The first on the list is actually 5th place (4th runner up) but because they’re listed first, the emcee thinks they’re the winner.

    I would think they would change the order of how they’re listed on the card or have a rehearsal where the listing is explained.

  15. Skins says:

    Great job Steve!

  16. Sochan says:

    Yep, this is not a big deal – especially considering what women are going through right this very moment in other parts of the world.

    • MB says:

      oh, ffs. That is obviously true about every single article on Celebitchy. Why on earth are you here if you are going to make comparisons to atrocities happening all over the world? Compared to that stuff NONE of this is important, and we all damn well know it.

      • Holmes says:

        She was just pointing out the fact that it’s not important in the grand scheme of things. Calm down. Is it just me or are people on this site extremely touchy and/or aggressive lately?

  17. NorthernGirl_20 says:

    I think it’s ridiculous that they still have the pageant.

  18. The Eternal Side-Eye says:

    The worst part is the people so angry and obsessed with this competition that Steve Harvey’s Twitter feed is now full of furious Colombians calling him a monkey and the n-word.

    It’s sad how countries struggling in other aspects use these competitions as a way to have national pride and as a result become way too aggressive when it doesn’t go their way.

    • Aren says:

      Allow me to clarify. The contest in itself is not important, but ANYTHING is a good excuse to be racist.
      Racism in Latin American has never been addressed, so people go wild with no consequences.
      It’s like when there are floods and, in some countries, and in some parts of the population, they run to grab plasma TVs and videogames; they see it as an opportunity and take it.

      • JenniferJustice says:

        You mean just like riots and looting in the U.S. whenever a population is upset about a verdict or even a frickin’ sports loss? Sorry, but that is not just Latin America. It’s everywhere, and our dear America is no different. There will always be people with an opportunist mindset and there will always be racist people itchinig to pounce…in every country….in every age.

  19. Its time to stop this stupid pagent

    • Me ThreeI says:

      Thank you! I agree. It’s like we’re back in the 50’s or something. The funniest part of this story was the first tweet Steve Harvey sent. The tweet included in this piece is the second tweet. The first tweet misspelled Colombia and the Philippines. Who watches this stuff?

  20. Sarah says:

    This happened a few years ago in Australia’s Next Top Model.

    A girl won and they then said it was a mistake! So embarrassing! Youtube it “antm wrong winner announced”

  21. Cynthia says:

    Listening to some of the morning talk show. They asked who won last year’s Ms Universe, I bet you, no one knows. Who hosted it? Bet you, no one knows. Yet, here we are discussing Ms Universe, which I did not know still exists.

    Can we also discuss the fact that no one can make a mistake anymore, social media just amplifies it and beats you over the head with it. It becomes a very dangerous society when everyone fears mistakes, because no one will take risks anymore.

  22. Cynthia says:

    If I were Ms Universe organization, I would have him come host next year because it will certainly increase the ratings.

  23. Dredog says:

    Sofia vergara is that you?

  24. GoodNamesAllTaken says:

    I hate beauty pageants but I felt bad for everyone.

  25. Josefina says:

    I deffo think this was for attention, nobody cares about this pageant anymore. What’s funny is, they HAD to take the crown off the Colombian contestant. Colombia and Venezuela are probably the 2 only countries in the whole world that still care about these pageants.

  26. JFresh says:

    Totally set up, IMO. Look at the micro expressions and body language in all of the images, when Colombia was getting the crown put on her head. I’ll never believe this really happened accidentally

  27. word says:

    Who watches these stupid pageants anymore? I think this was done on purpose. It’s all about getting people on twitter to “talk” and make stupid memes. That is what our world has come to. I also think we need to end these stupid pageants. Yes, walk around in a bikini on national TV while judges rate your body out of ten. Stupid.

  28. eggy weggs says:

    It’s COLOMBIA, guys.

  29. Pants says:

    I felt so terrible for the girl from Colombia, she didn’t seem to know what the hell was going on.

  30. Daria Morgendorffer says:

    This contest needs to go. No one needs to live in a society where women fight to be crowned the most beautiful of their land. These are some tweets made by politicians after the mix up:

    “Even President Juan Manuel Santos had something to say. During the ceremony he tweeted: ‘Colombians are the most beautiful in the world! Congratulations @gutierrezary miss universe 2016!!!! I am proud!'”

    and

    Former President Alvaro Uribe, tweeted: “All our support to our Queen, her dignity is that of the Colombian woman, the mistreatment is to all the citizens.”

    Are you f-cking kidding me? It’s an insult to a country that “their” woman wasn’t crowned or an accident occurred? The fault I’m finding isn’t even with Colombia, it’s with any country who would seriously act like it’s a personal insult that a woman they’re treating as a show horse didn’t get best in show.

    This entire concept is gross and antiquated. And now there is a slew of racism being hurled at Steve Harvey. Nothing positive comes out of this crap.

    • The Eternal Side-Eye says:

      It’s a dog and pony show of the human variety to keep the masses quiet and from focusing on how their country repeatedly screws them over. Same with FIFA and sports.

      People obsess over who really won and who scored what goal while the rate of poverty skyrockets and there’s no infrastructure.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      I agree Daria. I can’t believe we’re still parading women in evening dresses and crowns and sashes around a stage and judging them on their “poise.” It’s so revolting.

  31. I Choose Me says:

    A cringeworthy moment yes, but mistakes happen. I don’t get the outrage, against Steve Harvey or anyone else. What’s with the pitchfork mentality lately. People losing their damn minds over things that are not that serious.

  32. sassy says:

    I hope to f##cking God they do something with this at the golden globes this year!!!!!!!

  33. Patty says:

    It wasn’t done on purpose. It was just an honest mistake, not sure about the teleprompter, but I saw the card he was reading off of and I could see how the mistake could be made. Miss Colombia was in a big font, while the actual winner was in a smaller font beneath it. This isn’t the first time something like this happened, nor will it be the last. It happens, people make mistakes. At least it was corrected pretty quickly.

    It would have been nice though if someone could have pulled Miss Colombia aside and told her before announcing it to the live audience.

  34. TeresaMaria says:

    As a producer of big live TV-shows in my country, I can say that mistakes like that can definitely happen, but the fact that it was carried out for so long (Miss Colombia making a victory lap) makes me think it was somewhat planned.
    If such a mistake happens, the presenter is corrected immediately (there are plan A, plan B and plan C how to react) and the TV audience usually do not see anything because all the big live shows are delayed and the mistakes are edited out.

    • Tessd says:

      Agreed. They just wanted some press. This show is becoming more irrelevant with every passing year. They need to stay afloat and generate some noise.

    • Aren says:

      This makes me feel better. I was seriously sad for Miss Colombia, even if her face looks too fake to be in such a contest.

  35. Feeshalori says:

    What a mess and an honest mistake, I’m sure, but what rubbed me the wrong way is that SG didn’t say Miss before Colombia and Philippines when making the announcement. It’s like calling someone by their surname only.

  36. Pandora says:

    I didn’t care for how Miss Universe 2014 handled the crown handover. Her face was priceless.

  37. Debutante says:

    Steve Harvey is an idiot !! How the hell did he read the wrong name ? I don’t understand exactly how the mistake was made !?

    All I know is, I gotta hand it to Miss Colombia. If that was me and they told me I wasn’t really the winner and then TOOK THE CROWN RIGHT OFF MY HEAD , I either would have ran away before they could take it or just started crying even if I was trying very hard not to because of the cameras.
    I give her alot of credit for being so poised. That had to be tough !
    And probably really tough not to strangle Steve Harvey ! LOL

  38. Lili says:

    “How the hell did he read the wrong name?” Cause Miss Colombia had a bigger butt. She’s problably the one he wanted to win. Watch her be on his show now….

  39. Colette says:

    Steve didn’t attend the rehearsal.

  40. JudyK says:

    What I think is worse than making the Live Television error are his Twitter remarks, which show his lack of education. Some celebrities should just stay off Twitter.

  41. JenniferJustice says:

    The only thing worse than our country still supporting contests based on a woman’s face and body is the fact that one of our presidential candidates owns it! Trump thinks laying low during this year’s Miss Universe pageant will make us forget he owns it or something.