Miss Universe, Pia Wurtzbach, praised Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, in a very kind social media message after pageant host Steve Harvey crowned the wrong girl with the Miss Universe title.
“Wow. Words can’t describe how grateful I am for this. It was quite a journey getting here with 3 attempts at winning Miss Philippines. Now, I finally got the best Christmas gift ever – and not just for me, for my country. I’d like to say thank you to everyone who believed in my potential and those who supported me from the beginning. To everyone who voted for me, especially to my fellow countrymen, thank you. Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat. To Ariadna, you are an amazing woman and we are now bonded together forever by a unique experience. In the last 3 weeks we were together, I saw how strong and beautiful you are inside and out. You represented your country with honor and I know how proud everyone must be of you. Fate has a plan for you, and I’m excited to see what’s ahead. And to all the fans who are still fighting about this. Please let’s all stop now. The Miss Universe,” she captioned her Instagram post.
Miss Colombia also shared a message via social media following the Miss Universe Pageant.
“After the storm comes the calm. I want to thank each and everyone of you who have sent messages of support and strength. Every one of you has become an incredible human being in my book and I am the most fortunate and thankful for having the support not only from one country but from the whole entire world. Your destiny is written for you. And my destiny was this. I was able to bring happiness to my country after becoming Miss Universe for only a couple of minutes… Today because of that COLOMBIA and the LATIN COMMUNITY are being talked about in every corner of the world. I also want to congratulate the Philippines for their new Miss Universe ??. The happiness that you must be feeling must be incredible. Life continues and in the future we will find out why things happen the way they happen. Thank you all for your LOVE SUPPORT and KINDNESS,” she captioned a photo of herself making a heart with her hands.
Despite her message of gratitude, there is no way Miss Colombia doesn’t harbor some resentment over what happened at the Miss Universe Pageant. While she likely doesn’t feel that resentment toward Miss Philippines, who was crowned Miss Universe, she likely holds the pageant–or Steve Harvey–responsible for some of her disappointment and embarrassment.