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Cape Town – Steve Harvey is reportedly hiding after his massive mistake of reading out the wrong name for the Miss Universe 2015 pageant. More behind the scenes shockers have revealed the host didn’t practice beforehand and ditched rehearsals to go gambling.
After the shocking de-crowning of Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, for Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach who was the real winner, it has been reported Steve Harvey whose low-rated The Steve Harvey Show was broadcast this year on SABC1 and e.tv didn’t practice and attend all rehearsals.
According to TMZ, insiders at the competition said he actually ditched rehearsals to go gamble. He drank and played roulette at Ceasars Palace hours before the pageant began.
Steve Harvey who is the host and face of the pageant ran off the stage and later apologised in person to Wurtzbach – but not to Miss Colombia. In a tweet he has since deleted he apologised to “Miss Philippians” and “Miss Columbia” before correcting his misspellings.
GQ called his white double-breasted shawl-collar jacket, “Steve Harvey’s other very big mistake”.
Meanwhile there’s growing international pressure that the Miss Universe Organisation should crown Ariadna Gutierrez as winner as well, and that there be two winners for the year.
Since the embarrassing spectacle at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines have not spoken to each other.
What viewers didn’t see was Miss Colombia’s Miss Universe sash also taken off her and the flowers awkwardly taken out of her hands as she began to cry and her mascara ran while photographers kept flashing.
Meanwhile a mean Miss Germany, Sarah-Lorraine Riek, started doing interviews, telling everyone how the girls don’t like Miss Philippines, didn’t vote for her and in a Facebook video says: “Miss Colombia is the real winner and that I’m really not happy with the result and so are the other girls, I’m sorry to say it.”
The queen anyway
Footage also emerged of how contestants on stage are huddled around Miss Colombia after which Miss Philippines walks over with her new crown. None of the contestants turn to hug, congratulate or include her and she sheepishly eventually walks away as the group cheers.
Miss Australia, Monika Radulovic revealed that the teleprompter clearly showed and told Steve Harvey that Miss Phillipines had won. She told Australia’s Channel 7 that the name of Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach flashed on the teleprompter. “We actually saw on the teleprompter, it said ‘Philippines, please do your first walk as Miss Universe.”
The Colombian president Juan Juan Manuel Santos is furious as are Colombians where beauty pageants are hugely popular entertainment.
He told Radio Nacional that he was watching Miss Universe with his family. “We started a huge celebration when they said Colombia had won the Miss Universe title for the second straight year. They put the crown on her head. The photos are there to prove it. To me, as a Colombian, she is still Miss Universe”.
Damaged brand
The brand which will suffer the most from Steve Harvey’s monumental mistake at Miss Universe is Steve Harvey’s, the brand and public relations specialist, Ronn Torossian, the CEO of 5WPR told FOX News.
“For Miss Columbia, one can only feel sympathy and feel bad for her. One can only imagine the pain and wide range of emotions she is feeling. I think the whole world feels bad for her, and I am sure there are many brands who are rooting for her.”
Hollywoodlife reports that Steve Harvey has gone into hiding instead of talking to the media, with a source saying “he likes to laugh at other people’s mistakes but not that he’s made an ass of himself he wants to go into hiding.”
“What he needs to do is address this now. He needs to do an interview with someone,” David E. Johnson, the CEO of the PR agency Strategic Vision PR told Yahoo Celebrity.
