“Miss Universe Germany Sarah-Lorraine feels sorry for her colleague and friend Miss Colombia. This must have been the worst nightmare. She never intended to offend Miss Philippines in any way. She feels sorry for both girls. As well for Pia Miss Philippines that she didn’t have her real crowning moment,” went the first part of the three paragraph statement written in the third person.
“She is really sorry if the video suggests anything else than that. It’s an emotional roller coaster what happened yesterday in Las Vegas. She and all the other girls felt so sorry for Colombia at that moment. They could all imagine how this must feel. That’s not the final result moment what you wish for anyone. And also for Pia.”
The Facebook page of Miss Universe–Germany, however, seems to have been taken down along with the apology.
In the video of her post-pageant interview that was posted on the Facebook page of pageant analysis site Missosology, Riek — who failed to land in the Top 15 semifinals — said she was upset at the result and thought Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez Arévalo “deserved to win” because “no one of us (the other contestants) voted for Philippines.”
Riek’s remarks immediately elicited angry comments from Filipino fans of Pia which may have contributed to Riek’s change of heart just hours after the viral video of her interview was posted.
Another factor that may have also contributed to Riek’s rapid change of heart was the possible belated realization, that Pia is, in fact, “half-German.”
“Sarah-Lorraine is very happy a half-German girl brings the crown of course a bit to Germany as well! Congrats to our friends from Philippines from winning the crown after all. She wishes Pia all the best for this year as Miss Universe 2015,” the statement concluded.
While Harvey may have messed up the announcement of the Miss Universe winner, the outcome was never in doubt as far as the judges were concerned.
In his recent podcast following the pageant, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, one of the four judges in the competition, revealed that all of them voted unanimously for Pia.
“I voted for Miss Philippines, and I found out afterwards that it was unanimous. Every single judge in that panel, all four of us, voted for Miss Philippines to be number one.”
“So then, when Steve Harvey announced that Miss Colombia had won, I was in shock. I couldn’t even speak…we were all in shock, we knew something was off…I thought, ‘This is rigged’. But then it became clear when Steve comes out and announces that a mistake was made,” Hilton concluded.
source: interaksyon.com
