Chelsea Manalo reacts to viral crowning moment with Michelle Dee during the Miss Universe Philippines 2024 finals night

Chelsea Manalo shared her reaction to her crowning moment with Michelle Dee during the coronation night of Miss Universe Philippines 2024, adding that they have talked—and laughed—about it.

"It's so funny. I can't believe I made it to the memes, you know?" she said in an interview on Unang Hirit on Friday, May 24.

"When Michelle actually put [the crown] on my head... this has weight, so when she put it on my head, I didn't feel like it's gonna fall. I felt like it was already sturdy until I just had to turn," the Filipino-American beauty queen recalled.

"But afterwards, Michelle fixed it so that, you know, we could have that really, really beautiful picture," she continued.

The 24-year-old said that she and Michelle talked about the hilarious incident afterward.

"After nun, we just talked about it, we laughed about it," she shared. "I think she was also tense, like, she was nervous—I mean, this was her last night, she wanted to just give her best, to really give that crown to the next Miss Universe Philippines."

We laughed about it. I know that it's funny, we're on a meme now," she added.

Chelsea and Michelle became the subject of memes after the Miss Universe Philippines 2024 finals night, which took place on May 22 at the Mall of Asia Arena. Social media users poked fun at how the MUPh 2023 titleholder awkwardly placed the crown on Chelsea’s head and took a few minutes to fix it.

Even Michelle couldn't get over their viral moment. "My mind is still here. MICHELLE DEE ANO BA," she wrote on X, sharing photos of the incident a day after the show.

Chelsea won the highly coveted crown at the recently concluded pageant, followed by Cainta's Stacey Gabriel (1st runner-up), Quezon Province's Ahtisa Manalo (2nd runner-up), Baguio's Tarah Valencia (3rd runner-up), and Taguig's Christi McGarry (4th runner-up). 

Aside from the Top 5 candidates, four other queens were crowned after the MUPh ceremonies: Ahtisa was named Miss Cosmo Philippines and Tarah won Miss Supranational Philippines.

Alexie Brooks of Iloilo was announced as the Miss Eco International Philippines titleholder, while the Miss Charm Philippines crown was given to Cyrille Payumo of Pampanga. They both finished in the Top 10 of the local pageant.