It is the most wonderful time of year. Beautiful smiles on everyone’s faces. Magic fills the air. Glistening whites, reds, and greens everywhere you look.
It’s the time of the Miss Universe pageant.
For decades, this particular event has kept millions of television viewers on the edge of their seats, crossing their fingers that their country’s girl will bring home the gold. From the opening number with awkwardly coordinated dancing, to the swimsuit portion where every viewer’s self esteem goes down the toilet, there is always the satisfying feeling of knowing that one contestant will win it all.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that this year’s competition went out with a bigger bang than usual. A whole lot bigger.
Host Steve Harvey mistakenly announced Miss Columbia, Ariadna Gutierrez, as the next Miss Universe, while the title actually belonged to said first runner up Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach.
Not only was this one of the most awkward moments in live television, right up there with the whole Kanye/Taylor VMA situation, it was also heartbreaking to watch. Miss Columbia literally had all of her dreams fulfilled and taken away all in a matter of minutes, in what could’ve been handled in a completely different manor.
The mistake could have been easily avoided if: a) Steve Harvey read the card right in the first place, and b) the production could have ended the LIVE STREAMING show with out humiliating Ariadna and Pia in front of millions of people. As a nationally renowned competition, as soon as production knew about the mistake, they should have ended the show and released a statement correcting it. It wouldn’t have made Miss Columbia feel any better about the situation, but it would have allowed her and Miss Philippines to console in private and not with the rest of the entire world.
Yes, people make mistakes, but Steve, why now? Of all times? Did they not tell you how to read the card before you went on stage and made a fool of yourself? I could do a better job of announcing than that.
This moment will go down in history as the most thrilling Miss Universe of all time. And Steve Harvey’s days of hosting are done for good.
