As it turns out, Donald Trump was not the most controversial aspect of this year’s Miss Universe pageant. Lots of things can go wrong in the lead up to the final declaration. Dresses can catch on high heels and split all over the place. Talent competitions can go awry. Even the most well-prepared ladies can flub their carefully rehearsed answers to interview questions. What people don’t expect is for the biggest mistake of the night to come from the host, but that’s exactly what happened.
During Sunday evening’s most climactic moment, Steve Harvey read the card wrong. Instead of announcing the pageant’s rightful winner (Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach), Harvey’s mouth went with a different candidate (Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo). Whoops.
Here’s that fateful card, if anyone needs further evidence that Harvey (and no one behind the scenes) made an oopsie.
(Check out how the Internet reacted to the momentous screw up.)
As you can imagine, Twitter did not let this moment pass without comment. If the Internet could snap its fingers, it would have happened.
https://twitter.com/berniceabr/status/678772525745250306
OH SNAP! MAJOR DRAMA AT #MissUniverse2015 STEVE HARVEY ACCIDENTALLY CALLED THE WRONG NAME THE WINNER!
— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) December 21, 2015
I feel so bad for those girls. What a terrible situation. #MissUniverse2015
— Mackenzie Bart (@mbartwx) December 21, 2015
But OMG! This is what hard work gets you. Congratulations @PiaWurtzbach! #MissUniverse2015
— 范鴻志 RICHARD JUAN 홍준 (@richardjuan) December 21, 2015
Nope. Too awkward. Packing my bags and moving to Antarctica tonight. Goodbye everyone. 👋🏼#MissUniverse2015
— t r a v i s | b r y a n t (@TravisBryantNYC) December 21, 2015
Harvey sensed the storm at hand and immediately tweeted (and deleted) an “emphatic” apology: “I am so regretful.” Time to send flowers, Harvey! (P.S. It also wouldn’t hurt to spell either of these countries correctly.)
