Ariadna Gutierrez, the Miss Universe contestant mistakenly crowned on live television after a blunder by host Steve Harvey, thanked fans for their support and encouragement.
“Every one of you has become an incredible human being in my book and I am the most fortunate and thankful for having the support not only from one country but from the whole entire world,” Gutierrez — Miss Colombia — wrote in a message posted Tuesday to her Instagram account.
“Your destiny is written for you. And my destiny was this,” she wrote. “I was able to bring happiness to my country after becoming Miss Universe for only a couple of minutes… Today because of that COLOMBIA and the LATIN COMMUNITY are being talked about in every corner of the world.”
In an awkward moment broadcast live Sunday night on Fox, Harvey announced Gutierrez as the new Miss Universe, when in fact judges and fans had named her the first runner-up. Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach was the winner.
The crown was taken from Gutierrez and placed on Wurtzbach’s head.
“OK folks … I have to apologize,” Harvey told the confused crowd in Las Vegas.
“Let me just take control of this. This is exactly what’s on the card. I will take responsibility for this. It was my mistake. It was on the card.”
He later tweeted that he felt awful about what had happened.
“I don’t want to take away from this amazing night and pageant. As well as the wonderful contestants. They were all amazing,” Harvey wrote.
True to that spirit, Gutierrez congratulated Wurtzbach and the Philippines in her post.
“The happiness that you must be feeling must be incredible,” she wrote.