Is Steve Harvey to blame for Miss Universe mistake?

It was an awkward Miss Universe 2015, with not only host Steve Harvey mistakenly announcing the wrong winner

But the winner Miss Philippines was ignored while contestants consoled a shocked Miss Colombia.

It was every host's worst nightmare come true on June 20 (Sunday), 2015, when famous US comedian Steve Harvey made, what is being touted as one of the biggest blunders in media history!

Harvey, who was hosting the Miss Universe pageant, misread his cue card in front of a global television audience late Sunday and initially announced that Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, had triumphed, when instead Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach had won the coveted crown, as per the cue card.

As Gutierrez blew kisses to an adoring crowd, Harvey was forced to come clean about his blunder.

"OK folks, I have to apologize. The first runner up is Colombia."

The camera switched to a bewildered-looking Wurtzbach, who came back on the stage to get the crown as the same celebratory music repeated. Harvey said she'd be taking her first walk as Miss Universe, but mostly she stood immobile. A woman stood in between the two contestants, trying to comfort Arevalo by rubbing her back.

Wurtzbach later said she was happy to win, but confused and concerned for her rival. She said she tried to approach her backstage, but the Colombian contestant was crying and surrounded by a crowd of women - ignoring the 'actual' Miss Universe, Wurtzbach.

"I did not take the crown from her," Wurtzbach said.

Harvey explained on the air that he misread the card he was given with the names of the winners. Colombia was listed as the first runner-up, and he'd been confused with how it was written. He held up the card for the camera.

"It is my mistake," he said. "Still, it's a great night. Please don't hold it against the ladies. We feel very badly, but it's still a great night."

Harvey later tweeted an apology to the women and viewers:

Harvey's fault?

But is Harvey to blame for the gaffe, the designer community has been weighing in on this burning question since Sunday.

According to Josiah Tullis of Medium.com, the mistake was not 'really Harvey's fault' (picture in thumbnail).

He argues that the cue card was poorly designed, adding that he too would have made the same mistake.

'While attempting to use font size and alignment to show information hierarchy the design has fallen victim to the well-researched visual design phenomenon known as banner blindness. The misconception here is that the larger an item is the greater its perceived visual importance will be. Because the information has been split into two columns with the right-hand column center-aligned this text actually reads as less important, rather than more important.'

The other two 'theories' circulating online are:

- As the word "Philippines" on this card is printed precisely where a user would likely place their thumb.

- Maybe it was an orchestrated publicity stunt, not necessarily involving the participants, as the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants have lost the popularity it once had.

You decide.

(input from agencies)

• WORLD