Miss Universe Canada crowns wrong winner Red-faced organisers admitted that a typo led to a counting error that resulted in Denise Garrido, 26, being wrongly named the victor at Saturday's event. She was stripped of her sash and crown the next day. I was shocked. I'd achieved my dream and suddenly after a day of it sinking in it was suddenly taken away from me," a heartbroken Miss Garrido said, after losing her chance to represent Canada at the Miss Universe final in December. In a statement, pageant director Denis Davila blamed an inexperienced employee for the typo when transferring the judges' handwritten scores into a computer program that determines the winner. An independent audit later spotted the error. It turned out that Miss Garrido had actually finished third runner-up to Riza Santos, also 26, of Calgary, who will now collect her crown in that city on Saturday, according to a pageant spokesman. This is the second consecutive year in which controversy has enveloped the pageant. In 2012, transgender model Jenna Talackova waged a battle to enter the competition. She went on to win a prize for congeniality. Looking for a silver lining in the debacle, Miss Garrido said she will always relish having been crowned "even if it lasted for only 24 hours."