And the winner is… Steve Harvey!
Aside from France’s Iris Mittenaere who brought back home the Miss Universe crown first won by Christiane Martel in 1953 (the 63-year wait was worth it), there was another big winner at the just-concluded 65th Miss Universe pageant held yesterday at the MOA Arena. He’s none other than…drum roll, please! — host Steve Harvey who ably vindicated himself from his big booboo in last year’s pageant in Las Vegas when he wrongly announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez as winner when in fact Pia Wurtzbach was “it.”
Apparently heaving a sigh of relief, Harvey triumphantly commented after he…yes, correctly!...read the name of Mittenaere as the winner without, unlike last year, announcing who the first runner-up was (Haiti’s Raquel Pelissier, with Colombia’s Andrea Tovar as second runner-up). "This time," he smiled, "I got it right!"
Floating like a butterfly in a shimmering royal blue Cinderella gown by Michael Cinco, Pia walked towards Harvey and handed him a pair of (magnifying?) glasses before Harvey checked the final cue card. That was supposed to be a joke, lapped up by the SRO audience with a warm applause.
Harvey opened the show by greeting the audience, “Hello, Philippines! Let’s get it out of the way.” Harvey said deadpan, wondering if the audience was asking, “Is that the guy from last year? Did they bring back that guy from last year? They did!”
First time they appeared together onstage, Pia told Harvey, “Steve, I was never able to thank you for making me the most popular Miss Universe.” Smiling widely, Harvey replied, “Thank you for making me the most famous Miss Universe host,” teasing her for being a first-runner up for 28 seconds before describing Pia as “one remarkable woman!”
An excerpt from last year’s booboo was replayed, after which Harvey said, “When you make a mistake, you just keep on moving on.” Applause from the audience that, contrary to initial apprehension, welcomed Harvey with a warm embrace.
He was careful in reading the names of, first, those of the 13 semi-finalists, trimmed down to nine then to six and then to the final three, taking a deep breath and wiping his forehead, saying, “Help me God!”
When Miss Colombia approached Harvey for the first Q&A, he quipped, covering his face with the cue card, “I can’t believe that this is happening!”
All throughout, Harvey acquitted himself beautifully well, not missing a beat, exuding positive energy, handling what could have been a challenging event with aplomb and, yes, reading all the names correctly.
That was a smooth “closure” for Harvey who himself emerged as a big winner.
See you, Steve Harvey, same time, somewhere else!
Postscript to Miss U pageant
The 65th Miss Universe National Gift Auction was held in Conrad Hotel on Jan. 23 with Albert Andrada, the designer of Pia Wurtzbach’s iconic blue gown and capiz-inspired terno, as the project director.
The gala featured national gifts brought by the 87 delegates, auctioned off for charity, showcasing gowns by Filipino designers worn by the delegates, recognizing “Women of Excellence” as a way of honoring Filipinas who brought honor and pride to the country.
It brought back fond memories of the same event during the 1994 Miss U pageant to Funfare contributor Celso de Guzman Caparas.
“As a crystal collector,” recalled Celso, “I submitted five sealed bids on crystal items but won only two gifts: a Waterford crystal bowl from Miss Sweden Dominique Forsberg and two Atlantis crystal vases from Miss Portugal Monica Sofia Borges Pereira. Forsberg would later be named one of the top 10 semi-finalists during the coronation night on May 21.”
The national gift of Frances Louise “Lu” Parker of USA, a soccer ball autographed by members of the United States team in the 1994 World Cup, fetched the highest bid at P76,000. The next two highest bids went to Miss Hungary Szilvia Forian’s ceramic violin sold for P60,000 and Miss Thailand Areeya Chumsai’s statuette at P25,000.
These were followed by gifts from Joanne Wu Chung-Chun of Taiwan, a tea pot (P20,000); Michaela Pyke of Great Britain, a century-old Antiquarian prints (P20,000); Ghada El Salem of Egypt, two silver and brass plates (P20,000); Liliana Noémi González Mena of Paraguay, a horn-shaped silver cup with silver straw (P18,000); the Philippines’ Charlene Gonzales, a mother of pearl chest box (P17,000); Irene van der Laar of Netherlands, a bronze Rembrandt statue (P13,000); Liza Koh of Malaysia, a framed pewter world map (P11,000); Michelle van Eimeren of Australia, a giant Koala bear (P10,000); Carolina Gómez Correa of Colombia, a 24-karat gold-plated bracelet (P10,000); Solange Guadalupe Magnano Silvestre of Argentina, a marble onyx (P9,000); Nicola Johanne Brighty of New Zealand, a 24-karat 99 percent pure gold pendant (P8,500); Silvia Lakatosova of Slovak Republic, a glass vase (P8,500); Rea Toutountzi of Italy, a gold porcelain plate (P7,000); Katya Schoenstedt of Guatemala, a 1543 silver coin (P6,000) and eventual Miss Universe winner, Sushmita Sen of India, a handcrafted wooden chess set (P5,500).
Also auctioned off that night were five contemporary paintings by E. R. Tagle with finishing touches done by 1993 Miss Universe Dayanara Torres and were sold for a total of P200,000.
Fifty-two of the 77 national gifts were bought and the unsold items were donated to the National Museum. A percentage of the proceeds were channeled to the Jose Fabella Center under the auspices of Department of Social Welfare and Development.
(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)
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