Iris Mittenaere from France took her first walk as Miss Universe 2016 after host Steve Harvey announced her as the winner in Philippines on Monday. India’s Roshmitha Harimurthy couldn’t even make it to the top 13.
Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach crowned the 23-year-old Mittenaere, who was born in northern French town of Lille, at the glittering ceremony at Mall of Asia Arena.
Mittenaere has kept herself busy the last five years by pursuing her degree in Dental Surgery. She has also been always fond of extreme sports, travelling the world and cooking French dishes.
Iris Mittenaere, a dental surgery student from Lille in the north of France, beat 85 of the world’s most beautiful women at the event in the Philippines scheduled for primetime viewing in the United States.Mittenaere, 24, edged out Miss Haiti, the first runner-up, and Miss Colombia the second runner-up. In the final question round, Miss France highlighted the benefits of open borders when asked about the global refugee crisis. “In France we want to have the most globalisation that we can. We want to have the biggest exchange of people that we can. Maybe someday that will change but now we have open borders,” Mittenaere said.
“Having open borders allows us to travel more through the world and to find out more about what’s out there in the world.”
India’s Roshmitha, 22, failed to make it to the final 13 list of the pageant, which was also judged by Cynthia Bailey, Mickey Boardman, Leila Lopes, Dayanara Torres and Francine LeFrak.
The 65th edition of the pageant raised global issues that need attention, including Donald Trump presidency and the ban on refugees that TV host and comedian Harvey asked the final six contestants.
On a lighter note, the pageant started with Harvey making fun of his embarrassing mistake of announcing the wrong winner in the previous edition.
Prior to the crowning moment, he introduced Wurtzbach who said: “Steve thank you for making me the most popular Miss Universe.”
Harvey replied with his funny one liner: “Thank you for making me the most popular host.”
Harvey made headlines after he mistakenly gave the Miss Universe crown to Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez-Arevalo while Wurtzbach was the actual winner.
