'You will always be our Miss Universe,' Colombian president tells Miss Colombia
Published December 21, 2015 9:35pm
While Filipino fans are rejoicing over Pia Wurtzbach's victory in the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, Colombian fans are heartbroken over the cruel circumstance that befell their bet.
Host Steve Harvey incorrectly announced that Miss Colombia had won the 64th edition of the contest, broadcast live on the Fox television network.
Wurtzbach, a Filipino-German actress and model born in Stuttgart and raised in Cagayan de Oro, was initially runner-up.
But then Harvey announced to the audience that he had made a gaffe.
Ariadna Gutierrez Arévalo, 21, of Sincelejo, Colombia, had already been crowned by Miss Universe of 2014, Paulina Vega of Barranquilla, Colombia, who was forced to remove the crown and give it to Miss Philippines.
Online, messages of support poured out for Arévalo.
"You will always be our Miss Universe," Colombian president Manuel Santos said on his Twitter account in Spanish.
Others followed suit on Twitter.
"There may others who are more beautiful or have more power, but you are the Queen," said Christian Ruiz.
"Thank you. For us Colombians, you're not the runner-up, you're the Queen," chimed Pipe Gómez.
"With or without the crown, you're the Queen," said Erika Shoon.
"For us you will always be the most beautiful, our Miss Universe!" said Yuly Acosta.
Moments after winning the title, Wurtzbach reached out to members of the Latino community hoping to heal a rift opened up by the evening's event.
"I hope that I did not upset anybody like the Latino community, especially the fans of Miss Colombia," said Wurtzbach.
"I'm the voice of Miss Universe now, so I'd like to send my apologies for any confusion that happened," she added. —JST, GMA News with Reuters
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