Fraser SeitelFraser Seitel

Former Miss Universe Owner Donald Trump’s suggestion that the annual, international beauty pageant crown two winners this year because host Steve Harvey messed up isn’t a bad suggestion.

It’s a horrible one!

Trump, among all people, should know there can be only one “winner.” Does he want to share the presidency with Hillary? Having two Miss Universe pageant champions when only one earned the title — Miss Philippines — is the single dumbest suggestion of the year.

What the new Miss Universe owners should do — what they evidently already are starting to do — is take advantage of the publicity bonanza that has fallen at their feet and commence to turn Steve Harvey’s lemon into pageant lemonade.

Here’s how:

First, clarify how the mistake happened.

Miss UniverseHarvey blamed his misreading of the winner on a confusing card and then blamed it on a misleading teleprompter. Whatever the case, all involved should display the evidence and move on. (Many think the mistake was made on purpose to gin up publicity.)

Harvey, appropriately, accepted the blame on stage and corrected the mistake two minutes after he made it. Sure, the whole thing was awkward. But he took responsibility for a “human error,” and it was great television!

Miss Universe, which lost one million viewers from last year to this, got an unexpected shot-in-the arm from the publicity boost. And the five million viewers who caught the Harvey lapse in real time were eclipsed exponentially by the number of people now aware of the screw up.

So while most people might never have realized the Miss Universe Pageant was still around, now they most certainly do.

Second, reward Miss Colombia.

Miss Colombia, the erstwhile crown ripped from her head, was a sympathetic figure on stage, who handled the Harvey boo boo with dignity.

Now for her, the fun begins.

She has become a sought-after “commodity” who can make a lot of money as “the beauty winner who wasn’t.”

While Miss Universe owners shouldn’t let her share the top prize, they should treat her better than the typical Number Two. They should reward her with merchandise and a modeling contract and even assist her in media appearances.

Their focus, as always, should be on the winner, to whom go most of the spoils. But in this special case, the decent thing to do is also to lend support to the runner-up, so that both young ladies profit handsomely from the pageant.

And they will.

Third, rehire Steve Harvey.

Thanks to Steve Harvey — and to a lesser degree, Donald Trump —Miss Universe is back on the public radar screen.

Harvey’s blunder resurrected the pageant. And for that, he should be rewarded.

When comedian Ricky Gervais moderated the Golden Globes Awards, he lambasted the organizers at every turn. It was hilarious, and viewers loved it; so much so, that the said-same Golden Globes officials who Gervais bad-mouthed hired him back for an encore performance of more abuse.

So, too, should the Miss Universe owners bring back Harvey. And early reports indicate, that’s exactly what they plan to do. Sure, he has a multi-year contract to host the show, but more important, his return will assure them that the TV audience for next year’s pageant will dwarf this year’s viewers.

Millions around the world will tune in to see if Harvey messes up again. Guaranteed.

Within minutes of Wrong Way Harvey’s missed call, the ever-classy Trump tweeted that “this never would have happened” on his watch.

Next year, with Harvey hosting again and the Miss Universe TV audience breaking all records, I can’t wait to see what the Donald tweets.

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Fraser P. Seitel has been a communications consultant, author and teacher for 40 years. He may be reached directly at [email protected].