Steve Harvey Almost Mis-Crowned Miss Universe Again This Year — He Once Called His 2015 Mistake 'Pure Hell'
Steve Harvey has hosted the Miss Universe pageant several times, and although most are familiar with his unfortunate 2015 mistake, many fans might not know about the mistake he made in 2019.
"Family Feud" host Steve Harvey made the massive mistake of wrongly crowning Miss Columbia Ariadna Gutierrez as the winner instead of the actual winner, Miss Phillippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, in 2015.
Recently the TV personality looked back on the "worst week" of his life during an interview on SiriusXM's "Comedy Gold Minds with Kevin Hart" podcast on April 7, 2021.
Steve Harvey pictured on stage as Miss Universe talking to Miss South Africa Lalela Swane, 2021 [Left] Steve Harvey during an interview on "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon" [Right]. | Photo: Getty Images & youtube.com/fallontonight
Firstly, Harvey explained that the error was not his fault but instead a serious miscommunication. During the rehearsal, the plan was to call out the second runner so the first runner up, and the winner would be left.
However, a third name was added to the teleprompter at the last minute. When Harvey went to announce the winner, he was told to read the second name, and so he explained:
"I looked at the next card. I said, "Miss Colombia!" That white boy said, "Good job, Steve. Go to the back." "
Miss Colombia 2015, Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo after being wrongly crowned as Miss Universe by Steve Harvey. | Photo: Getty Images
Once backstage, Harvey's team informed him about the mix-up. The TV host then went back on stage and corrected his error. The mistake lasted four minutes, and Harvey
it as "four minutes of pure hell."
Unfortunately, mistakes continued to follow Harvey in his Miss Universe career. In 2019, he seemed to have accidentally introduced the wrong contestant while announcing the National Costume Contest.
He announced the winner as Miss Philippines, as a photo of Miss Philippines Gazini Ganados's outfit was displayed on a large screen behind him. However, Miss Malaysia Shweta Sekhon (pictured above) was standing next to Harvey on stage.
Sekhon grabbed the microphone from Harvey and said, "it's Malaysia." Harvey explained he had just read the information on the teleprompter and then complimented the contestant on her national costume.
The Miss Universe Organizations later stated that Harvey was right. Miss Gazini Ganados did win the costume competition, but they also featured Miss Malaysia's costume for the broadcast.
Harvey again joined the Miss Universe pageant for the 2021 competition. This time his daughter Lori Harvey joined him as part of the Miss Universe selection committee.
Unfortunately, this year did not go without a Harvey mistake. After announcing Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane was the second runner, the host turned to the remaining two women, Miss Paraguay and Miss India, and said, "Congratulations, Portugal."
Harvey quickly noticed the mistake and said Portugal was on the sign and the producers were "trying to get [him] again." He then announced Miss Paraguay Nadia Ferreira as the first runner-up and Miss India Harnaaz Sandhu as this year's winner.