How would you have avoided the Miss Universe 2015 mistake?
In case you missed it, over a week ago Steve Harvey incorrectly announced Miss Colombia as winner of the Miss Universe 2015 pageant. He later apologized and corrected himself; Miss Philippines won.
Harvey essentially blamed his cue card for being confusing, and I don't blame him for blaming said cue card:
Assume that it's not a publicity stunt (I don't think it is):
If you're a program director of the pageant, how would you prevent this mistake? [Added Jan 1] In other words, how do you ensure the announces the correct winner and then immediately announces the first runner-up?
I'm assuming most would re-design the cue card (I would), but that doesn't have to be the solution.
Here's some requirements and restrictions, though:
- The host may not have a teleprompter or large cue cards held by a stage hand (because the finalists are onstage with the host).
- The host must refer to the third-place contestant as "Second Runner-Up" and the second-place contestant as "First Runner-Up" (though they don't necessarily need to be referred to as such on paper).
- Once the final three contestants are determined, the host announces the Second Runner-Up who then leaves center-stage. Once the final two contestants are determined, the host announces [edit: the winner, referring to her as as Miss Universe YYYY, and then immediately names the First Runner-Up.]
Assume that
- Any printed information that's seen by the host will only be seen by the host until The End of Time.
- [Edit again] Over the previous three pageants (2012-2014), there has been no commercial break between the announcement of the Second Runner-Up and the winner. In other words, there's usually not sufficient time to hand a separate cue card to host when only two contestants remain.
I have my solution (I'll post it) but I'm curious to see what others plan.