Miss Universe Montenegro apologizes for candidate’s actions after Pia win

Montenegro's pageant organization has apologized to the Philippines for the actions of its candidate during the Miss Universe pageant.

The pageant's coronation night (Monday morning, Philippine time) was thrown into confusion when host Steve Harvey mistakenly pronounced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo the winner. He later backtracked, apologized for his mistake and named the Philippines' Pia Wurtzbach the true Miss Universe.

In a video posted later that day by pageant blog Missosology, Miss Universe contestants could be seen crowding around Gutierrez to comfort her. A few moments later,  Wurtzbach tries to approach her, but fails to get close enough as the other contestants bar her way.

One of the contestants in the video is Miss Montenegro Maja Cukic (in green). When Wurtzbach approaches the group, she ends up standing next to Cukic. Cukic looks at her for several seconds, then turns and walks away, shaking her head. The incident angered Filipino netizens, who considered it a show of disrespect to Wurtzbach.

In a message posted on Cukic's official Facebook page on Sunday, Montenegro's pageant organization apologized for Cukic's gesture, but said that it was "unintentional."

"Congratulations on Pia Wurtzbach title of Miss Universe 2015. The girl is beautiful, worthy to bear the title of most beautiful girl and with her behavior and beauty to be an example for all girls around the world. We are sorry that a technical error that occurred in the live program caused unpleasant comments at the expense of her title. The whole misunderstanding had stressful affect all contestants, especially to Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines. We apologize to the fans and organizers of the Miss Philippines due to unintentional gesture of our representatives, Miss Montenegro," it read.

Earlier, after rousing the ire of Filipino netizens, Miss Germany Sarah-Lorraine Riek apologized to Wurtzbach for comments she made after the event. — BM, GMA News