Miss Universe 2015 Makes Pageant History Crowning the Wrong Winner SO MUCH CONTROVERSY by PageantLIVE Blogger Natalie McGovern

Ms. Nebraska United States 2014

If you watched last night’s unfolding of events during the Miss Universe crowning then you were probably as A. shocked and B. as sick as I was watching what was happening. What was to be Philippine’s long awaited and most glorious, victorious moment in nearly 40 years turned into DRAMA as the 1st runner up Colombia was accidentally crowned and literally two minutes later, dethroned right on public television in front of billions of people.

Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez

It was a shocking historical moment not just in pageantry, but in live television. Let me just say how last night’s scenario came across to me: if it were indeed staged then I feel that a cruel joke like this would result in some of the biggest backlash Fox has ever seen and with the reputation they have already, why would they want to be embroiled in a controversy that could potentially rival World War III? Do they really want to go to war with Colombia, I mean, come on-I doubt they would mess with a country’s national representative who is a symbolic icon of beauty and hope to their country.

Fox would be barking up the wrong tree. And the Philippines-the Pinoy nation are some of the most devoted fans in all of pageantry, and their queen missed out on their biggest win in years. Imagine their shock and outrage. I don’t think Fox knows who they’re messing with. I myself am in PR and I know a publicity stunt when I see one. If they thought that Miss Universe was becoming irrelevant and that a controversy would help to bring back ratings-psshh. Then that was a really shoddy way to do that at the expense of another girl’s dream. If it was a setup-then that is sick, sick. Who would do that to a poor girl who worked so hard to win the title of her dreams ? If that was in any way intentional, you can bet your sweet britches there will be a lawsuit in their midst.

Crown being taken away from Miss Colombia

To Miss Colombia, we salute you for handling the catastrophe with such grace and class. We are sorry you had to have your dream ripped away from you right there for all the world to witness. As someone who was the first local Miss America winner to be dethroned over age, I understand the emotional anguish and devastation you are facing right now. What it’s like to have your very dream, not just a crown, taken from you. The women that have experienced this are indeed famous but not for the reasons we had ever hoped. I take a moment of solidarity to remember our lost dreams because someone told us we were of age to compete when we were not eligible, or the tabulations were wrong, or the emcee could not read the score card correctly.

Now here is an interesting thought. From day one since I saw Pia I pegged her as the winner of Miss Universe. She was in all my top 5 predictions and I was so excited to see her called into the top 15…top 10…top 5…and finally, top 3!! I have in fact predicted the winner before of the Miss USA pageant when Nia Sanchez won, and have gotten quite a few right for several other systems including Miss America Betty Cantrell this year and my hunch that Miss Spain would be crowned Miss World also came true. When Colombia was crowned I thought, this couldn’t be right-and it wasn’t. Then when the whole debacle happened I about lost it-my prediction once again rang true as Philippines was crowned but then it was such a bitter sweet moment because it was so horrific for Colombia, and I literally felt like I was reliving my personal dethroned experience all over again. So hard for all parties involved and I just hope that everyone can be compensated for the loss of what happened.