MANILA, Philippines — It has been eight years since Pia Wurtzbach won the Philippines' third Miss Universe crown in 2015. But, since then, the furor over the wrong announcement has not died down yet.
In a gracious move to put a "closure" on the incident, the Miss Universe 2015 winner recently shared on social media how she felt during and right after her crowning moment.
"When I was standing there in the middle, and it was just me and Miss Colombia, I felt genuinely, really genuinely, so bad. How could you celebrate in a moment like this? That's not how I wanna win. That's not how anybody girl wants to win," Pia said in a video uploaded by notable pageant vlogger Luis Portelles.
"Like I know how it feels like to lose. I lost many times. And then (Miss Colombia) losing this way, it doesn't make you go 'Yeah, like Philippines, like what?' There's a girl standing right beside me who's humiliated — like it's not a celebratory moment. Although, I felt like the fans were happy, there were also people who were really upset."
While Pia was bashed by Colombian and other Latino fans before, in this instance, the Latino pageant community lauded the Filipino beauty queen for her candor.
Pageant fans and supporters are hopeful this brings to a close the bickering between the followers of both Pia and Ariadna Gutierrez and instead wish them both the best of luck in whatever undertaking they pursue or be a part of.