You may have already seen this horrendous blunder on TV. I saw the news clip on TV but never quite understood what really happened to the Mrs. World pageant fiasco until I reviewed the captioned video clip. The short end of the story is, the wrong winner was crowned. Mrs. Russia was supposed to be the winner, but the crown went to the runner up, Mrs. Costa Rica. Alan Thicke, a very experienced emcee and a great actor himself supposedly goofed-up big time by announcing the wrong winner. Then there was the allegation that the ruling was reversed by the Russian program director for a hometown decision. To me, every finalist looked like Ivana Trump and heck, anyone could have won the darn title. But what really happened ? Well, Mr. Thicke didn’t do anything wrong – except perhaps for not interrupting the comical crowning – it was the pageant assistant who crowned the wrong person! And worse, everyone on stage was oblivious to what they heard and proceeded with the hugging, the tears of joy with the uncontrolled shivering of lips until the program director shouted at the pageant assistant – Mrs. Russia won the damn contest! Why did you crown Mrs. Costa Rica?
Mr. Alan Thicke who I’m sure was embarrased to his gut had to do a take two and re-announced the winner. The little angel holding a crown had to descend from heaven for the second time to hand over the tiara to the pageant assistant to crown the obviously perturbed and impatient Mrs. Russia. What the heck was wrong with Mrs. Costa Rica? She could have just flatly muttered to the assistant who was crowning her – ” I really hate to be sour grapes here sis, but I kinda heard things differently – you sure of what you’re doing?” It could have saved her a ton of embarassment.
Filed under: Humor |
The Warped Zone 
maybe Mrs. Costa Rica would like to feel how it is to wear the crown 🙂
As with any other beauty pageant, everyone wants to be crowned the most beautiful. But this is indeed, very embarrassing for both the contestant and the emcee.
Tin – if you watched the video you should see the expression on Mrs. Costa Rica’s face as the sash and crown were being removed from her to be given to the rightful winner.
Anyone shouldn’t go through such embarrassment.
Sngl – a tragedy indeed and if anyone is thinking of suing anybody in Russia ( where the pageant was held), well – good luck to them.
What a major foul up! I think it was most embarrassing for Mrs. Costa Rica.
Alan Thicke could have stopped the wrong coronation right away, yes. As for Mrs. Costa Rica, well, I guess she was just as shocked as Mrs. Russia! She probably just went through the motions because nobody seemed to mind that she was the crowned Mrs. World. But she could have said something like: “Um, excuse me, I know that English is not my first language, and Mr. Thicke announced the winner in rapid English. But did I hear it right that Mrs. Russia is the right winner and not me?”
This pageant fiasco reminds me of the recent BBC mix-up (the wrong guy on TV). Remember, even the wrong guy didn’t correct the BBC host when ‘he’ was introduced as an IT expert. I think there’s something about being on cam that makes people want to appear more polite or diplomatic. Thus, we don’t see Mrs. Russia grabbing the crown from Mrs. Costa Rica, despite her impatience. That wouldn’t look good on camera. Just a theory.
Very true Jayred..On that language issue, might it be that Mrs. Costa Rica didn’t have a clue of what Alan Thicke announced that she was the runner up? Maybe she was just listening to the word Costa Rica and said – hey that’s me!
Exactly my point, BW!
The first time I viewed the YouTube video, I thought she was the winner. I replayed it again, and that was the only time I realized that Alan Thicke did say that Mrs. Russia was Mrs. World AFTER announcing that Mrs. Costa Rica was the runner-up. I think it could have helped if the winner was announced first instead of the first runner-up. It can be confusing for non-English speakers.
I think the blame should go to the one who handed out the sash and crown for not paying attention to the emcee’s announcement.
That is one major screw-up. But as I watched the backstage scenes, it looks like Mrs. Costa Rica was more popular than Mrs. Russia. One lady said that Mrs. Russia didn’t work as hard as any of them. It looks like they wanted Mrs. Costa Rica to win. It makes me think if the interpreter mis-translated the announcement on purpose.
A hysterical blunder, indeed! It reminds me of the Model of the Year scene from the movie, Zoolander.
Did Leno and Letterman ever exploited this? Outrageous!!!
Jayred – how difficult was it for Alan Thicke to have said – and the winner is – Mrs. Russia! I’m sure even if Mrs. Costa Rica doesn’t speak English she would have thought – oh well, that’s wasn’t me for sure. LOL..
Niceheart – true that Mrs Costa Rica would have been more loved by her peers but the judges voted for Mrs. Russia! Fact is Alan Thicke announced the first runner up and I think many people in the audience weren’t very logical that night and couldn’t figure out the winner.. LOL
Senor Enrique – I’m sure Leno and Letterman would have made a big deal on their jokelines on this boo-boo. I would love to see Jon Stewart who is a bit more daring and obnoxious than the two exploit this on his show!
saw the video. the question is, can;t they understand english? but isn’t there a translation after every announcement?
Since the pageant was emceed by Alan Thicke in English, I would assume that the pageant assistant was conversant with the English language otherwise she had no business being there. She was the one who muffed the whole thing!
I always had thought that this sort of thing can always happen in any awards show. Maybe, something like this have already happened before without us knowing it—in Grammy’s, in FAMAS,or perhaps in the much-vaunted Oscars—as when the announcer just make that mistake by either being nervous or just being plain mischievous. And we wouldn’t know it anyway and in my mind, the organizers would be damn thinking a million times before turning such into a full-blown scandal.
This is just embarrassing and sort of comical. I wonder if this sort of thing happens in a more popular and widely viewed awards show like the Miss Universe beauty pageant or the Oscars, the bad buzz would have been exploded a hundred times over. Poor Mr. Thicke, I guess he won’t be getting much emceeing work from now on.
Perhaps Thicke’s approach to announcing the runner-up’s name first wasn’t effective in a Russian crowd. Announcing winners in Grammys and Oscars are a little more straightforward because there are no qualms once you start saying – and the winner is_____.
Thicke did it ala American Idol style which confused his colleague, the pageant assistant.
The lesson here is – just announce the name of the damn winner, period and you’d be out of trouble city!
Right! Less complicated that way.
The script should have been: “And this year’s Mrs. World is….____________!!!”
Looking back, I think Mrs. Costa Rica really thought she was the winner because her name was announced first with so much enthusiasm (again, emphasizing here that she is not a native speaker of English). As I said, I also thought she was the winner when I watched the video for the first time (to think English is already my second language…BUT I was a bit sleepy at that time). Kasi I based it on the way the host called Mrs. Costa Rica. Tapos lame yung pag-mention niya ng Mrs. Russia afterwards.
Looks like Mr. Thicke’s going to have a hard time getting another pageant emcee job.
How embarassing!
More embarrasing to Mrs Costa Rica more than the organizers.