In the country of beauty pageants, irony won. Colombia is one of the many countries to organise the most number of beauty pageants in the world, with an evaluation of 1,000 a year. The former Miss Universe, Paulina Vega, said it best: “In my country, winning Miss Universe is equivalent to winning the World Cup.”

Everyone knows that this year Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, lived one of the most humiliating moments on television and on an international scale.

Tons of memes and jokes circulated through digital platforms. “It’s the risk of doing live shows”, the Miss Universe organisers said. But the truth is that this incident also gave a kick up to the Miss Universe pageant that was going down on its audiences, and was suffering a previous roadblock this year with its connection to Donald Trump.

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One of the judges, Perez Hilton says there are many reasons Miss Colombia did not win, but the incident with Steve Harvey is the best thing that could have happened to her. It’s important to note, Perez Hilton stated in various mediums, including ABC, that Harvey did not show up for the final part of the rehearsals and that he was in party-mode in Vegas.

After the humiliating moment that Ariadna suffered in the Miss Universe pageant, Miss Colombia was finally ready to tell her story, and she did so for the first time on December 28, in an exclusive photo session with TVy Novelas in Miami. Ariadna, who shared her vision of what happened affirms: “I made history.”  

Here is the transcript of the interview…

On being asked about how Ariadna feels about the wave of news she has stirred up following the Miss Universe pageant? She said “The night of December 20’ 2015, when I left the Miss Universe pageant, everything seemed so cloudy and dark. I didn’t understand why this happened to me. It’s a feeling I don’t wish on anybody. It’s very ugly. It’s a feeling I don’t wish on anybody.”

She also talked about what she went through when her crown was being taken. “ I thought it was a joke because in the rehearsals Steve Harvey was always joking about that. He would tease us all the time with the questions. He’s a jokester. If you watch the video closely, when he says “I have to apologize,” I was laughing.  Despite the euphoria of having achieved the biggest dream of my life…I don’t know, God guided me. When I won, it was joy. I cried thanking the judges. People were taking photos, thanking my family. Then when Harvey came back, I thought, “But what is this guy coming back for?” I thought it was a joke. When he said, “I have to apologize,” I thought “Something is happening.” Then he says “The first runner up is Colombia.” I was frozen and said, “This is it.”, said Ariadna.

Ariadna also shared that at the moment, the ex Miss Universe Paulina was shaking and was in a state of shock. She asked Ariadna what should she do, and Ariadna answered, “Paulina take off my crown and give it to her.”

She also speaks about Steve Harvey’s apology, saying – “No Steve Harvey did not apologize. Some say Steve Harvey was drunk during the ceremony.” She also added, “That day I felt a lot of resistance from the public over what happened. I think if you have a teleprompter, it’s very easy to rectify it immediately. No one thought it was a mistake.”

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Araidna showed her disappointment as she said, “I don’t think it’s right the way they handled the situation. Four minutes of humiliation on air is a lot.”

On resentment towards Miss Philippines –“Not at all. We get along very well and we are searching for peace because it has generated a sort of conflict between the latin community and them. She is Miss Universe. I was it for four minutes, and for many I still am.”