Denise Garrido spent almost 24 hours as Miss Universe Canada before being told that a human error placed her first rather than fourth place.

Garrido was crowned the 2013 winner of the Miss Universe Canada pageant Saturday night in Toronto. On Sunday, she got the bad news after an audit detected that a human error had bumped her to first place from fourth. Riza Santos of Calgary has been named the winner.

Garrido, of Bradford, Ont., has taken the devastating loss in stride.

"We are extremely lucky to have such a gracious young lady," said pageant spokesman Andrew Lopez. "She totally understands."

Lopez explained the error was made because of a typo in the computerized scoring results.

"You can do the right thing and correct it, or do the wrong thing and try to cover it up," he said.

Pageant director Denis Davila broke the news to Garrido as soon as it was discovered. He has also publicly apologized for the mix up.

"We would like to offer our sincere apology to Denise Garrido for this human error discovered while validating the results," said Davila. "We have no doubt she will continue to succeed in her endeavours and we wish her well. We truly hope she remains a strong part of the Miss Universe Canada Organization."

Santos will now represent Canada at Miss Universe 2013.