TV host and comedian Steve Harvey has been officially roped in to host the 2016 Miss Universe show, a year after he made an embarrassing mistake by announcing the wrong winner at the pageant’s 2015 edition.
In 2015, the 59-year-old comedian wrongly announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez as the winner, while she was the first runner-up. She had received the crown, sash and flowers before Harvey returned to the stage to tell the crowd that he read his cue card wrong, reports aceshowbiz.com. “I have to apologise, the first runner-up is Colombia. 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... horrible mistake,” he had said. Then, Miss Universe Paulina Vega later took the crown off Gutierrez’s head and put it on Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach’s. Following the major slip-up, Harvey was publicly ridiculed and he even received death threats. Speaking about how he felt when he went back on the stage, he said in an interview, “It was four minutes of pure hell... It was the most gut-wrenching walk I’ve ever had in my life.”
The 2016 Miss Universe pageant will take place in the Philippines on January 29, 2017. Model Ashley Graham will serve as the backstage host.