MANILA, Philippines – Fil-French actress Solenn Heussaff on Monday casted doubt on Miss France Iris Mittenaere’s interpreter at the Miss Universe 2016, hinting that he provided an inaccurate translation of the candidate's answer.
In a tweet after right after the second question and answer portion, Solenn said the French interpreter changed the France’s representative answer from "first year of Medicine school" to “first casting."
French translator said: when i missed my first casting.
But she really said 1st year of Medicine school— Solenn Heussaff (@solennheussaff) January 30, 2017
The Top three Miss Universe candidates – Mittenaere, Miss Colombia Andrea Tovar and Miss Haiti Raquel Pelissier – were asked to mention something that they failed at and what they’ve learned from that experience.
Mittenaere’s translated answer was "I failed several times in my life. So I thought I failed the first time that I went on a casting because my name was not in the list. And the very next day, I found I was in a new book. So I think when you fail, you have to be elevated and you have to try again and keep going. If tonight I'm not one of the winners, I will still have the great honor being one of the three finalists. So I think I have failed before but for me this a great first opportunity."
Miss France was eventually crowned Miss Universe 2016.
Solenn clarified in a later tweet that the inaccurate translation should not affect Miss France's chances of winning the pageant.
Mas maganda sagot ni miss France without the interpreter. So she won on her own. Not because of the translation.
— Solenn Heussaff (@solennheussaff) January 30, 2017
"Congrats miss France! And all the women. Winner silang lahat," Solenn added.