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STEVE HARVEY SCREWED UP THE MISS UNIVERSE CONTEST

“I have to apologize.”

Those are the words Miss Universe host Steve Harvey was forced to utter — and may regret for years to come — after mistakenly crowning Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez-Arévalo, as the winner of the 2015 beauty pageant. She wasn’t.

After Gutierrez-Arévalo was crowned and was performing the ritual wave to the audience inside the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort & Casino, Harvey came back on stage to deliver the awkward and devastating news.

“The first runner-up is Colombia,” Harvey said.

That’s when the real winner, Pia Alonzo Wurztbach of the Philippines, began to look around stunned and wondering what had just happened.

“Miss Universe 2015 is Philippines,” Harvey said, ending the suspense.

“Listen, folks. Let me just take control of this,” Harvey went on to tell the bewildered audience. “This is exactly what’s on the card. I will take responsibility for this. It was my mistake.”

Outgoing Miss Universe Paulina Vega, ironically also from Colombia, fulfilled the dubious obligation of removing the crown and placing it on the rightful winner.

STAR WARS BREAKS ALL BOX OFFICE RECORDS

Star Wars: The Force Awakens shattered box office records with an estimated $517m in worldwide ticket sales up until Sunday, a staggering debut that re-established the celebrated space saga as a global phenomenon under Disney.

Our critic was never a Star Wars fan. This time he laughed, cried and cheered at a breathtaking sequel by JJ Abrams with genuine heart and soul  Read more The first Star Wars film in a decade recorded the biggest domestic opening in Hollywood’s history, collecting $238m over the weekend in the US and Canada. It also set records in Britain, Australia, Russia and elsewhere as fans embraced a new chapter in the galactic battle between good and evil.

Thousands joined a mock lightsaber battle in Los Angeles, where an Australian couple married while in line for the film. Barack Obama ended a news conference on Friday saying he needed to head to a White House screening of the movie, and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton closed Saturday’s Democratic debate with: “May the Force be with you.”

“I don’t think ever in the history of movies has their been more hype leading up to release of a film,” said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. “This is a huge, huge win.”

Disney purchased Star Wars producer Lucasfilm for $4bn in 2012 as part of his bet on big-budget films.

TRUDEAU ANSWERS THE CHALLENGE

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire released a recording of their rendition of “Jingle Bells” on Friday, after receiving a charity challenge from Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban. “We heard your challenge and, absolutely, we’re up to the challenge,” said Trudeau in a video posted to Twitter that got thousands of retweets and likes. The couple sang the song half in French and half in English while at the Moisson Montreal, where they were making Christmas baskets for people living in poverty.

Subban issued the challenge Thursday as part of the #CanadaCarols campaign, an initiative of the P.K. Subban Foundation in partnership with the Air Canada Foundation. #CanadaCarols aims to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network and the Montreal Children’s Hospital by challenging people to post their own versions of “Jingle Bells” online. “Hey Justin Trudeau, I know you’re a mastermind when it comes to politics and you have great hair, but can you sing?” Subban said in his challenge video, filmed from inside the Bell Centre.