Philippines’ Pia Wurtzbach is 2015 Miss Universe

STEVE HARVEY was forced to apologise after mistakenly crowning Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez-Arévalo, as the victor of the 2015 Miss Universe beauty pageant.

Gutierrez was left standing awkwardly on stage as producers scrambled behind the scenes, and soon an embarrassed Harvey walked back to admit that he made a mistake – the actually victor was Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach!

Miss: Miss Universe 2014 Paulina Vega finally crowns the right girl, and she happens to be the Philippines’ Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.

“Listen, folks. Let me just take control of this”, Harvey went on to tell the bewildered audience.

“Miss Universe 2015 is Philippines”, Harvey continued, showing his notecard to the cameras as proof. “As well as the wonderful contestants – they were all awesome”. It’s been 15 years since India won the Miss Universe title.

Steve Harvey, American comedian and veteran actor, who anchored the programme, which held in the United States city of Las Vegas, apologised after realising his error and the crown was withdrawn from Arevalo and handed over to the real victor. She was sashed and crowned for several minutes, until the host admitted that the rightful titleholder was Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach. “I have to apologize”, he said, revealing his mistake. “The photos are there to prove it. To me, as a Colombian, she is still Miss Universe”.

The pageants were co-owned by Trump and NBCUniversal.

Steve Harvey’s big boo-boo on the Miss Universe pageant was embarrassing, but we’re talking about the outcome today, which suggests the flub may be helpful ultimately to the pageant organization. “It’s very, very 2015”.

Spanish-language network Univision pulled out of a deal to televise the pageant, and NBC cut ties with Trump. For the first time, viewers at home weighed in, with their votes being tallied in addition to four in-person celebrity judges.