Iris Mittenaere still clinched the most coveted crown of the Miss Universe even though she was mistranslated in the question and answer portion during the coronation on Monday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
During the main competition, Mittenaere chose to have an interpreter to answer the question about her failure that made a significant mark on her life.
While she spoke in French, her interpreter translated her answer as: “I failed several times in my life. So I thought that I failed the first time that I went on a school, because my name was not on the list… And the very next day, I found that I was in a new book.”
“When you fail you have to be elevated and you have to keep going. If tonight I will not be the winner I am still honored that I’m still one of the three finalists. For me this is a great opportunity,” her interpreter added.
In a press conference after she was crowned, Mittenaere clarified that what she meant was she failed to get in her first year of dentistry and that she bought a new book afterward so she could study harder.
The new queen said days after she bought the medicine book, someone called her and clarified that there had been a mistake and that she had passed for medicine.
“When I was in first year of medicine, I didn’t have my first year… And I cried a lot… I know I have to do it again… I go and bought another book for medicine, and immediately, I was in only days after. I studied and they called me like one week after this, and they say there is a mistake, actually you have your first year in medicine, this is not a joke,” she said.
The new queen apologized for not making herself clear during the competition.
“I’m sorry if it’s not very clear,” she said. JE