Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, the contestant from the Philippines, had won the Miss Universe 2015 crown after beating 80 beauties across the world.
A contrite Harvey fixed his mistake quickly.
"OK folks... I have to apologize," he told a confused crowd in Las Vegas.
"Let me just take control of this. This is exactly what's on the card. I will take responsibility for this. It was my mistake. It was on the card."
Moments before, Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez was crowned. She weaved a Colombian flag, smiled broadly and blew kisses at the audience.
Stunned, she walked to the front of the stage, where the coveted crown was taken off the head of Miss Colombia and put on hers.
Harvey later took to Twitter to apologize, but he made another misstep when he misspelled both Colombia and the Philippines in an initial tweet. That message was deleted.
"I don't want to take away from this amazing night and pageant. As well as the wonderful contestants. They were all amazing," Harvey wrote.
Indian beauty Urvashi Rautela could not make it to the final 15. It's been 15 years since India won the Miss Universe title. Lara Dutta was crowned back in 2000.
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