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 It was the first edition of the annual beauty show since it
was thrust into controversy when then co-owner and U.S.
presidential candidate, Donald Trump, made disparaging remarks
about immigrants.
Host Steve Harvey incorrectly announced that Miss Colombia had
won the 64th edition of the contest, broadcast live on the Fox
television network.
The eventual winner, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, a Filipino-German
actress and model born in Stuttgart and raised in Cagayan de Oro,
was initially runner-up.
But them Harvey announced to the audience that he had made a
gaffe.
Ariadna Gutierrez Arévalo, 21, of Sincelejo, Colombia, had
already been crowned by Miss Universe of 2014, Paulina Vega of
Barranquilla, Colombia, who was forced to remove the crown and
give it to Miss Philippines. Olivia Jordan, 27, of Tulsa,
Oklahoma, finished third.
"I'd like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia and Miss
Philippines for my huge mistake," Harvey said on Twitter. "I
feel terrible."
Wurtzbach appeared to take the blunder in her stride.
"It's a very non-traditional crowning moment," she said
backstage afterward in a video clip of a conversation with Miss
USA posted by the Miss Universe pageant on its Twitter feed. "It
is very 2015."
Earlier, when asked why she wanted to be Miss Universe,
Wurtzbach said: "I will use my voice to influence the youth and
I would raise awareness to certain causes like HIV awareness,
that is timely and relevant to my country."
It was the first Miss Universe title for a contestant from the
Philippines in more than 40 years.
NOTABLE MOMENTS
Minutes before the pageant ended, a vehicle drove up onto a
sidewalk near the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas,
Nevada, where it was held and plowed into pedestrians, killing
one person and injuring at least 36, officials said.
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Las Vegas authorities said they were trying to determine whether the
driver, a woman who was detained, drove onto the sidewalk
intentionally or due to impairment.
Among the notable moments of the pageant, Flora Coquerel of France,
who was at the Paris stadium the night of the November attacks by
militants, reached the final five and Ariana Miyamoto of Japan,
whose father is African-American, reached the last 10.
Miyamoto's height of 1.73 m (5.7 ft) and bronze skin are unusual in
Japan and her selection to represent Japan created an online
firestorm in her native country.
For the first time, viewers had a chance to vote on the winner,
rating contestants in the swimwear, evening gown and interview
competitions.
Until recently, the pageant was co-owned by Comcast Corp's
NBCUniversal and Trump, who is leading national polls in the 2016
Republican presidential nomination race.
Earlier, Trump's remarks about Mexicans in announcing his
presidential candidacy in June drew sharp criticism, and the
Spanish-language network Univision pulled out of a deal to televise
the pageant.
Trump, who has sued Univision for $500 million, bought out NBC's
stake in the Miss Universe Organization, which produces both
Sunday's pageant and the Miss USA contest. He sold the company in
September.
The panel of judges included former National Football League great
Emmitt Smith, celebrity blog mogul Perez Hilton and 2012 Miss
Universe winner Olivia Culpo. Hilton said the two most important
things about the pageant were the vastly larger audience and Trump
was no longer owner.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York and David Bailey in Minneapolis;
Editing by Richard Borsuk, Robert Birsel)
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