LAS VEGAS (Web Desk) – The 2015 Miss Universe competition inside the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip started with an elaborate parade of costumes with each of the 80 contestants representing their home countries.
A mystified Wurtzbach appeared stunned as she walked to the front of the stage alongside the crown-wearing Arevalo before last year’s Miss Universe from Colombia removed the crown and placed it on Wurtzbach’s head instead.
The newly crowned Miss Universe from the Philippines is apologizing on behalf of the Miss Universe organization for the mistake that led a contestant from Colombia to first believe that she had won the crown.
Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach told reporters after the Miss Universe pageant that she had conflicting emotions when the mistake happened: joy when she was told she was indeed the winner and not first runner-up, concern for Colombia contestant Ariadna Gutierrez Aravelo, who had previously been mistakenly crowned, and confusion at the whole situation.
Wurtzbach says she tried to approach Aravelo onstage afterward but the Colombian was crying and surrounded by a crowd of women. She says she realized it was, “probably bad timing.”
Saying she’s now the voice of Miss Universe she apologized for what happened on behalf of the organization. She says the mistake wasn’t done purposely and “it was an honest mistake.”
