New year, same topic! Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach defended Steve Harvey following his epic flub at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant last month, when he misnamed the winner as Miss Colombia. Wurtzbach discussed the blunder on Good Morning America on Monday, January 4, and offered her thoughts about him returning as host next year.
Laughing about the incident on Monday, Wurtzbach, 26, told Lara Spencer that she reached out to Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez following the awkward moment.
“Yes, I did greet her on her birthday, which also happened to be Christmas Day,” Wurtzbach revealed on GMA. “I asked her how she’s doing . . . she’s OK. I understand how she feels, I’m also concerned with her.”
The diplomatic beauty queen also claimed that things were fine with Harvey. In fact, she supports the idea of having him return to host the pageant in 2016.
“Yeah, why not?” she quipped. “I think he’s a breath of fresh air. He made us feel very relaxed, the contestants. It makes us show our personalities a little bit more. I think that benefits everybody, especially the viewers.”
The newly crowned Miss Universe said she had her own “theories” about why Harvey may have messed up the announcement. As seen on the card, the winner’s name was written in small text as opposed to the bigger, bolder font of the runner-up.
“The way it was written, it was a little confusing,” she speculated. “I understand. It was his first time to judge a pageant, but it’s OK. He’s human. People make mistakes.”
