In a moment of hilarious yet heart-wrenching confusion, a beautiful blunder marred the grand celebration of a beauty pageant. As the 76 contestants, including Isamar Herrera of Panama, gathered on stage in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 18th, hoping to hear their respective countries called out and make it to the 22 finalists, a glaring error sent shockwaves through the audience.
As Herrera, 31, proudly walked down the stage, her face hidden in surprise, the crowd and her fellow contestants watched in stunned silence. She struck a pose at the front of the platform for ten seconds, basking in her shining moment. But then, host Matthew Deane interrupted to correct the embarrassing mistake.
"Ah, I beg your pardon, I announced Miss Grand Paraguay," Deane said, drawing out the long, awkward silence. "There is a lot of noise in this hall, packed full of fans from all over the world."
As Paraguay's representative Cecilia Romero made her way to the front, Herrera was forced to walk away from her position. Some contestants looked around awkwardly, while others clapped in support to try and save the moment for Romero.
The awkward onstage blunder resonated with viewers who shared remorse for both Herrera and Romero. "Panama and Paraguay sound similar, don't condemn her," one person wrote. "Maybe she didn't understand due to the language barrier," wrote another.
Despite the mishap, fans offered support for Herrera and hoped she would toss the mistake out of her mind and return to competition. "You were a good candidate, impeccable every time you came out, and you deserved the classification. I'm sure better things will happen in your life," another comment read.
In the end, Emma Tiglao of the Philippines was crowned Miss Grand International after the multi-week contest. It is the second year in a row that the Southeast Asian country has won the pageant. Tiglao beat out first runner-up Sarunrat Puagpipat of Thailand, Spain's Aitana Jiménez as second runner-up, Ghana's Faith Porter as third runner-up, and Venezuela's Nariman Battikha as fourth runner-up.
