FOX presented The Miss Universe pageant tonight, December 20, at 7/6c hosted by Steve Harvey. Fans from around the world tuned in to see the contestants compete for the ultimate beauty pageant title.
The final three included Miss USA, Miss Colombia, and Miss Philippines.
Tensions were high as Steve Harvey announced second runner-up, Miss USA, Olivia Jordan.
That left Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, and Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach as the top two. Both ladies stood hand in hand wating for Harvey to announce first runner-up.
However, Harvey skipped right over first-runner up and instead announced Ariadna Gutierrez as Miss Universe 2015.
After Gutierrez stepped up to the front of the stage, waving the Colombian flag in a gesture of victory, Miss Universe 2014, Paulina Vega (previously Miss Colombia) placed the Miss Universe crown on her head and the two Colombia natives celebrated what would have been a historic back-to-back win with a hug.
The camera panned to the audience taking photographs, cheering, and celebrating Miss Colombia’s supposed win.
Moments later, Steve Harvey stepped back onto the stage with an announcement he said he had to share with everybody. He then went on to say there had been a mistake. Miss Colombia was not in fact Miss Universe 2015, but was first-runner up. The crowd fell silent and Miss Philippines looked, as did everyone else, visibly confused. Harvey then went on to state that Miss Philippines was the correct winner of the pageant and that he had incorrectly read the card. He then flipped the announcement card around so that the cameras could see that indeed, Miss Philippenes had won, and Miss Colombia was listed as first-runner up.
Miss Philippines looked on in shock and had to be prompted by the other 78 contestants behind her to walk to the front of the stage to claim her crown.
Harvey continued on to say that he would take responsibility for the mistake and told viewers not to hold it against the ladies.
The uncomfortable moment was made even more so when Paulina Vega stepped up behind Gutierrez and Wurtzback, an apologetic smile on her face, and took the crown off of Gutierrez’s head and placed it on Wurtzbach’s.
The audience could be heard both booing and cheering as the camera panned out once more to the stage, showing Harvey walking offstage and the newly crowned Wurtzbach before the program ended.
Congratulations to all of the contestants, runner-ups, and Miss Universe 2015, Pia Wurtzbach.
Update: This article has been updated to include photographs property of FOX, Associated Press, & Getty Images.