When 26-year old Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, Miss Philippines, was named Miss Universe, traditional and social media exploded into a frenzy. Nobody expected her to win, especially not after host Steve Harvey’s cringeworthy gaffe. But she did.
Most memories of this, the 64th Miss Universe pageant, will undoubtedly focus on Harvey who mistakenly called out Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, as the winner. In fact, the Internet has already produced a veritable fountain of memes regarding the blooper, including tons of image macros, witticisms, and reaction videos. The blunder was uncharacteristic of Harvey who also hosts long-running game show Family Feud. It was also compounded in Twitter when he apologized to Miss Philippians, apparently mistaking the source of our Catholicism. But he apologized and took the blame so at least his integrity is still unimpeachable.
But before we forget, others, fellow Filipinos, doubted she could win. Because of her tweet saying she’ll make up for Manny Pacquiao’s loss by winning Miss Universe, many thought the three-time contestant to Binibining Pilipinas was arrogant. In the end, she only proved that winning needs courage to continue fighting even if you fail. In the Pageant, Pia tried hard, answered as best as she could, and displayed that a Filipina’s beauty is not just skin deep. For giving the Filipino people an early Christmas gift, we congratulate Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2015!