Written by Kim Bass

Since I directed and produced Beauty Pageants for 28 years (nearly half of those years with the Miss Universe Organization), I have been receiving several messages and phone calls asking about my take on The Miss Universe Pageant and the host, Steve Harvey announcing the wrong winner. Firstly, I applaud Steve’s transparency in showing the card and taking full responsibility. My years of experience leads me to believe that at first glance Steve saw only two countries on the card and not being familiar with Pageant terminology might have assumed 1st runner up meant winner.
It bears mentioning that the calling of the wrong winner could have been avoided if auditors had given Steve only 1 final envelope/card in the end with 1 single country on it, the winner of Miss Universe. This avoids names being transposed in announcement.