The Internet had an absolute field day after the 2015 Miss Universe pageant, when Steve Harvey mistakenly announced Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, as the winner of the competition…only to reveal moments later that Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, was the real champion. Ariadna had the crown on her head, sash on her body, and was reveling in her big moment when Steve quieted the crowd and announced his error. It was humiliating for everyone involved, and Steve dealt with the aftermath for weeks to come.
Steve is far from the only one who made a major flub like this in front of millions of people, though. In all the major pageants — Miss Universe, Miss America and Miss USA — there’s usually at least one person who stutters through the interview portion or gives an answer that makes zero sense. Take, for example, Carrie Prejean, who competed in the 2009 Miss USA pageant, representing the state of California. She was asked about whether or not she supported the legalization of gay marriage, to which she responded, “We live in a land where you can choose same sex marriage or opposite marriage.” WHAT?!
At Miss USA 2016, Nadia Mejia spent at least ten seconds trying to form words for her answer to the question: “How do we narrow the gap between the rich and the poor?” Then, once she did get her words out, the answer was completely all over the place.
With the 2018 Miss America pageant going down on Sept. 10, we’re looking back at these crazy mistakes and more. Click through the gallery above to re-live them all!
HollywoodLifers, which flub do you think was the worst?