Miss Colombia Won’t Get To Share Crown If Miss Universe Has Her Say

Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez-Arévalo, had a life-altering moment at the peak of the Miss Universe pageant last month when host Steve Harvey announced her as the winner — and then quickly took it back, saying he had mistakenly named the wrong woman. The crown ultimately went to Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, but there’s been some talk about the women “sharing” the crown due to the devastating mistake. Wurtzbach, however, says that would be too difficult.

“I think it would be a little bit difficult for two girls to share a crown… I understand how she feels. I know that she’s a beautiful young lady – very talented. I think that she’ll have a lot of other opportunities,” Wurtzbach told Good Morning America.

Steve Harvey was deeply apologetic after the gaffe, then took to social media to make fun of his mistake, earning praise from some and disdain from those who thought he was taking the incident too lightly. However, Wurtzbach says she holds no hard feelings against Harvey and thinks he should be allowed to host again next year to redeem himself.

“He made us feel very relaxed, the contestants. It makes us show our personalities a little bit more. I think that benefits everybody, especially the viewers,” Miss Universe said.

Merry Easter y'all! pic.twitter.com/Z6Xjj5Ehqg

— Steve Harvey (@IAmSteveHarvey) December 25, 2015

Harvey released a statement after the pageant, apologizing on Twitter for the mix-up, which reportedly involved a difference in information on the cue cards and on the teleprompter.

“I’d like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia & Miss Philippines for my huge mistake. I feel terrible. I don’t want to take away from this amazing night and pageant. As well as the wonderful contestants. They were all amazing,” Harvey wrote.

As for Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez says the entire incident was very humiliating and said on W Radio recently that she didn’t speak to many people at all after the pageant because she was “grieving.”

“I was disconnected. I haven’t received phone calls from almost anyone. Very few people have communicated with me. That’s because I had to grieve for what happened,” Miss Colombia said. “It has been very hard for me, truly, it has been a great shock. Because it is a dream I fought for. I have always dreamed of this, of being Miss Universe. It was very humiliating for me.”

Gutierrez says that at first, she thought Harvey was just joking when he said the crown really belonged to someone else because he had been a cut up at rehearsals. She also says that the pageant officials should have waited to take the crown away the next day, perhaps at a press conference, in order to keep from embarrassing her in front of the world.

Despite the humiliation, Miss Colombia says she has received support from all over the world as well as her home country, including from President Juan Manuel Santos, and thanked her fans on Instagram for helping her get through such a trying time.

“After the storm comes the calm. I want to thank each and everyone of you who have sent messages of support and strength. Every one of you has become an incredible human being in my book and I am the most fortunate and thankful for having the support not only from one country but from the whole entire world…I was able to bring happiness to my country after becoming Miss Universe for only a couple of minutes… Today because of that COLOMBIA and the LATIN COMMUNITY are being talked about in every corner of the world,” Gutierrez wrote on the social media site.

[Photo courtesy ABC News]