7 of the most awkward moments from the 2021 Miss Universe pageant

One of the most awkward moments of the night came when Steve Harvey spoke to Miss India Harnaaz Sandhu, who was later crowned Miss Universe, after she was selected as a top 16 finalist.

Rather than chatting with Sandhu, 21, about her work for women's advocacy or her work as an actress, Harvey asked Miss India to do an animal impersonation.

Other candidates were able to talk about their accomplishments, so the moment struck many viewers as odd, as Insider previously reported.

However, Sindhu told Insider's Anneta Konstantinides on Monday that she loved the question.

"We were having so much fun, and that was my ultimate goal, to make everyone laugh," she said. "And when you have a great human being like Steve next to you, then you just can't stop being yourself. And I was just having fun and enjoying myself."

After he announced that Miss South Africa was the second runner-up, Harvey offered his congratulations to the top two, Miss Paraguay and Miss India.

However, he said "Congratulations Portugal" instead of Paraguay, leading to awkward laughter from Miss Paraguay Nadia Ferreira, as a clip of the pageant on Yahoo! News shows.

The interaction was reminiscent of his 2015 error, where he accidentally crowned Miss Colombia the winner of the competition instead of the rightful winner, Miss Philippines.

Steve Harvey's daughter Lori served as a judge at the 70th annual Miss Universe pageant.

The host and Lori interacted a few times during the show, but rather than being endearing, the moments came across as awkward.

For instance, Steve Harvey implied his daughter was only a judge because he was the host.

"My God, she owes for this," he said after chatting to Lori during the show.

He also drew attention to himself when it was Lori's turn to ask Miss Colombia a question. Before she asked her question, Lori said that Miss Colombia and the other contestants looked beautiful.

Harvey then interrupted her, saying, "And your dad's jacket," referencing the colorful jacket he was wearing. Lori then gave him a forced compliment, once again turning the attention to him.

When Harvey announced Miss Colombia Valeria Ayos was a finalist, he said, "They love me in Colombia now."

The comment seemed to reference his infamous mistake of crowning Miss Colombia the winner of Miss Universe in 2015 when Miss Philippines actually won.

Although his error is hard to forget, Harvey didn't have to remind viewers of the incident, particularly since Ayos had nothing to do with it.

But Ayos took the moment in stride, saying, "Yes, of course. We love you."

Cheslie Kryst, who was crowned Miss USA in 2019, provided commentary during the Miss Universe pageant alongside Carson Kressley.

During one of their segments, Kryst showed off an NFT version of a photo of herself she was given as part of her Miss Universe gift basket.

Kressley asked Kryst what an NFT was, and when she said it was a non-fungible token, he didn't understand.

"What does fungible mean?" Kressley said.

"No one really knows," Kryst said.

The interaction seemed like an attempt to be humorous, but it didn't come across as funny through the television, particularly since it seemed like Kressley genuinely didn't know what NFTs are.

During the question round, the contestants pulled out an envelope with the name of a judge on it, who would then ask them a question.

South Africa selected Bollywood actress Urvashi Rautela, and Harvey made a show of being nervous to pronounce her name as he introduced her.

"Oh God," Harvey said as he opened the envelope with Rautela's name on it.

"Your question comes from Urvashi," he then said, seemingly looking to the judge for approval. "Did I say that right?"

The audience then clapped for Harvey. The entire moment put the focus on him rather than the contestants and Rautela.

When it was Miss Paraguay's turn to answer a question during the pageant, she used an interpreter.

As the interpreter relayed the question to Miss Paraguay, Harvey made a befuddled face at the interpreter, as a clip of the interaction shows.

Miss Universe contestants use interpreters every year, so it was odd that Harvey acted surprised as the interpreter spoke.