Chris
I would disagree with that. Humiliation comes from the recipient.

Observers may say, 'Oh how humiliating' but what they are really thinking is, 'Wow, I would be humiliated if that had happened to me.'

I would say Bill Gates getting a cream pie in his face has the potential to be a humiliating incident, and most likely it would be - but if Bill Gates seriously did not feel humiliation at the event, it would not be a humiliating incident for him.

What makes a humiliating incident, people saying it or the person feeling humiliation ? I'd personally go with the latter.