The Miss Universe crisis

The Miss Universe card showing Miss Philippines as the winner. Reuters/Steve Marcus

It was interesting to look at the cue card that was handed to emcee Steve Harvey, who bungled up the announcement of the winner. He said the teleprompter messed him up but I think he saw only the left side of the card. A really bad mistake regardless, on a worldwide stage at that.

Imagine that: A pageant so credible like the Miss Universe is not immune from a crisis.

Still, the real winner is Miss Philippines.

Like most people who are in or understand TV and stage production, I sense the production team knew already that Miss Philippines had won Miss Universe. In these cases, the prod team is given a heads-up to prepare graphics and the closing shots.

My suspicion is that the prod team knew but the announcement of the host was wrong. I may be wrong but there was no graphic that Miss Colombia was the winner. Chaos erupted in the prod truck, that's why there was a gap in correcting the mistake.

Not having a co-host also compounded Harvey's problems. He could have counter-checked with her (assuming it was a female co-host).

Again, nothing changes the fact that Miss Universe is Miss Philippines.

I feel sad for Miss Colombia who was already waving and wearing the crown. But it doesn't change the fact that Miss Philippines was the right winner.

Pia Wurtzbach's answer on the bases question was an honest one, from someone who did not have a chance to analyze the bigger issues of the debate.

There will be time to do that now and after her reign.

Longtime broadcaster Sev Sarmenta is the Chairman of the Department of Communication at Ateneo de Manila University.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of this website.