Miss Colombia Recalls 'Humiliating' Miss Universe Mix-Up
Ariadna Gutierrez says Steve Harvey's gaffe was humiliating to her and Latinos.
— -- Nearly two weeks after the colossal mix-up at the Miss Universe pageant, Miss Colombia recalled the "humiliation" she felt after being mistakenly named the winner.
"It was very humiliating for me, but also for the whole country and for all the people not only from Colombia but the other Latinos that were in the auditorium," Ariadna Gutierrez said in a new interview with Colombia's W Radio, according to the Latin Times.
At first, the beauty queen thought host Steve Harvey was joking when he returned to the stage after she had already been crowned by the previous year's Miss Universe. The crown was removed from Gutierrez's head and placed on the head of the actual winner, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, the contestant from the Philippines.
She told W Radio the first thing that crossed her mind was "this is going to be a joke, because in the rehearsals he used to play around with questions and I thought he was going to continue with that same tone to make people laugh."
After the pageant, there was speculation that Harvey's gaffe was actually a ploy to fuel ratings. "If that was the goal, they succeeded," Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez was also asked about previous pageant owner Donald Trump's suggestion that the two beauty queens share the title as "co-winners."
"For the first time I agree with him," Gutierrez said, laughing.
