Image: ABC News

Awkward, shocked, and confused. Three words that express the situation when the host of Miss Universe 2015, Steve Harvey incorrectly announced that Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo as the winner of Miss Universe 2015 pageant on live television which aired around the world. Here's a clip from Miss Universe 2015 (turn up the sound volume): 

Many speculations were up to the air, whether Steve, who is also the host of famously Family Feud Game Show, Comedian and Author was done it on purpose - to boost rating of the show. Miss Universe was aired on NBC before until the TV network decided not to air the pageant show along with Miss USA after Donald Trump made statements about illegal immigrants from Mexico in his presidential campaign kickoff speech. Since then, FOX took over the show for the first time.

Well, from my view, and many others might think why it could happen. I read a blog post by Kevin Whipp on Creative Market, which quoted a thought from Eric Thomas (Senior Partner and Brand Specialist at SAGA MKTG), as he writes,  

"Welcome to the silliest and most sloppily arranged piece of design to hit a multi-million dollar, overproduced, international beauty pageant to date. This is like showing up in flip-flops to the Oscars. And with months in the making, and thousands of hours worth of prep time, how did this part get overlooked?" 

He then suggested his design that has points out the layout arrangement, so the host can read it flawlessly. I believe it's not the only reason for what happened on that day. However, it could be a good suggestion for the show.

It's better than Miss Universe's result card

It's not the only design that people suggested, John Havel on The Hustle also tells about how the result card should be. He added that Steve Harvey was set up to fail. The card also has spelling mistakes.





I couldn't agree more about this; they should design the result card in reader view. It's like creating a mobile app or mobile website; they should consider the user experience. The font must be easy to read, the font arrangement should be well positioned, as well as the size and the color. In fact, the live television is tight on time duration so that the mistakes should be avoided.

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Doing a live TV is never easy. Even for the people behind-the-screen. I know it because I was working in several reality competitions like X Factor and Idol in Indonesian version. Even a pre-recorded show like MasterChef is always putting everyone under stress. Every second count, we make sure everything in control and the communication is going well.

My second guess why Steve Harvey announced it wrong, maybe he overwatches the Idol or X Factor kind of show (so, it stuck in his mind), cause most of the time the host declares the winner directly, before announcing the runner-up. Once again, it just a thought. 

It's not the first time I watch this kind of awkward situation. Sarah Murdoch, the host of Australia's Next Top Model, announced the wrong winner back in 2010. It was on live TV too, tragically with no result card on hand. The producer fed the winner information over earpiece only. They thought it was a great idea but then ended unexpectedly. See the clip below: