Pageant queen’s awkward onstage mix-up leaves viewers reeling with secondhand embarrassment

A skin-crawlingly awkward moment took place during a beauty pageant after an onstage mix-up led to one contestant falsely thinking she'd made the final.

As 76 beauty queens lined the stage all glimmering in gold sequin dresses, the presenter for Miss Grand International announced the 22 finalists on Saturday (October 18), in Bangkok, Thailand.

Host Matthew Deane took to the stage to confirm Paraguay's representative as a finalist. As the crowd starts to cheer and clap, an excited Isamar Herrera makes her way to the stage covering her face in elation.

But as the 31-year-old strutted past her fellow contestants, they looked on in shock. She finally reached the onstage platform where she struck a pose for more than 10 seconds.

Almost an entire 30 seconds had passed before producers realized that Herrera, who represented Panama, was not Paraguayan.

"Aaah, I beg your pardon, I announced Miss Grand Paraguay," Deane said, upon noticing that the wrong contestant had paraded down the catwalk.

He added: "There is a lot of noise in this hall, packed full of fans from all over the world."

Herrera, with her tail between her legs, had to walk back past Paraguay’s Cecilia Romero - whose moment was somewhat dampened by the confusion.

Another 10 contestants were called out, but unfortunately, Herrera's name was not among them.

After the video was shared on Twitter, viewers were left reeling with secondhand embarrassment.

One user wrote: "Folks, I was watching at the time! What a blunder! The poor thing misunderstood, thought the name called was hers — mixed up Panama with Paraguay — and ended up going. But it wasn’t even the presenter’s fault, just a proper mix-up. What a moment!"

A second added: "That kinda sucks, but got to listen what is said, not what you want to hear."

Someone else suggested: "Maybe she didn’t really understand because of language barrier."

While another thought it was a simple misunderstanding due to the similarity of some countries names.

"Panama, Canada, Paraguay, sound the same, don’t condemn her," they added.

As per Dia a Dia, Herrera later revealed what happened: "It was a mistake on my part, because I heard Panama. The same thing happened to Canada, who heard Canada.

"A live broadcast is one thing, and being behind the cameras, experiencing that moment, is another. We heard Panama's name, and I reacted naturally.

"When I saw the camera approaching, I thought it was me. And well, that happened; nothing happened."

Ultimately, Miss Philippines, Emma Mary Tiglao, scooped the award for a second consecutive year - a competition-first. She was crowned Miss Grand International at the end of it all!