Summary Denise Garrido, 26, was wrongly named the victor at Canada's Miss Universe competition.
OTTAWA (AFP) - Losing is never easy, but for one unlucky contestant in Canada s Miss Universe competition the bad news came 24 hours later -- after she d been crowned the winner.
Red-faced organizers admitted on Wednesday that a typo led to a counting error that resulted in Denise Garrido, 26, being wrongly named the victor at Saturday s event. She was stripped of her sash and crown the next day.
"I was shocked. I d achieved my dream and suddenly after a day of it sinking in it was suddenly taken away from me," a heartbroken Garrido told AFP, after losing her chance to represent Canada at the Miss Universe final in December.
In a statement, pageant director Denis Davila blamed an inexperienced employee for the typo when transferring the judges handwritten scores into a computer program that determines the winner.
An independent audit later spotted the error.
It turned out that Garrido had actually finished third runner-up to Riza Santos, also 26, of Calgary, who will now collect her crown in that city on Saturday, according to a pageant spokesman.
This is the second consecutive year in which controversy has enveloped the pageant. In 2012, transgender model Jenna Talackova waged a battle to enter the competition. She went on to win a prize for congeniality.
Looking for a "silver lining" in the debacle, Garrido said she will always relish having been crowned "even if it lasted for only 24 hours."
