Story highlights The host of the Miss Universe pageant made a huge blunder by naming the wrong winner

Peggy Drexler: Is it possible that Fox network, in its first year airing the franchise, orchestrated a stunt?

Peggy Drexler is the author of "Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family" and "Raising Boys Without Men." She is an assistant professor of psychology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and a former gender scholar at Stanford University. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) You may not have seen Sunday night's Miss Universe pageant to have heard about host Steve Harvey's major gaffe in naming, then crowning, the wrong contestant as the winner. The embarrassing blunder has been making the rounds on social media for the last 18 hours, sending #MissUniverse2015 skyrocketing to the top of the list of topics trending on Twitter.

Of course, one might wonder if maybe that was the point. What happened on stage in the moments after Harvey reappeared on live TV to utter the words "I have to apologize" as Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez's smiles and air kisses turned into nervous laughter and made for some of the most dramatic TV of the year. Harvey sheepishly announced that a horrible mistake had been made: In fact, Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach was the winner and Gutierrez was the runner-up.

Peggy Drexler

Cameras panned to reveal genuine looks of confusion and horror on both women's faces as they realized what had happened, and what would happen still: One would be forced to give up the title she'd been given and the other would be forced to take it from her.

Wurtzbach was called down to the front of the stage, where she stood awkwardly by Gutierrez as the crown was removed from her opponent's head and placed on her own. Some members of the audience began to boo — in support of Miss Colombia or in reaction to Harvey's blunder, or both. If the event was a stunt, it was incredibly well executed; when's the last time a beauty pageant got so juicy? When's the last time anyone, besides the women competing in it, really cared about a pageant at all?

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Although some reports noted that Harvey's teleprompter might have incorrectly inverted the names, Harvey was quick to take full responsibility, announcing that his cue cards clearly stated the correct winner and runner-up.

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