Steve Harvey, the one who was placed at the middle of the controversy after he declared the wrong country as the winner of Miss Universe a year ago.
Harvey mistakenly named Colombia’s candidate Ariadna Gutierrez as being the winner of Miss Universe 2015 last December. The Philippines’ bet Pia Wurtzbach received the prestigious crown while Gutierrez ended as the 1st runner-up.
Early next year or on January 2017, Steve will be back in hosting the beauty competition to be held in the Philippines.
On Thursday, Department of Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo mentioned that President Rodrigo Duterte reacted negatively after he was informed that Harvey will be the host of the pageant.
The Tourism Secretary said President Duterte doesn’t prefer Harvey to carry on as the master of the ceremony of the famous pageant which the Philippines will host in January.
“Actually, he (Harvey) is under contract for five years, I believe. So definitely, he’s again going to host the Miss Universe,” Teo stated in a news conference held in Malacañang.
“When I told the president about that, he reacted negatively“. He said ‘That cannot be.’ That was what he said. And he said ‘I’m going to talk to the Miss Universe (organizers) that he should not be (the emcee). So that’s my problem,” Teo said.
The secretary was questioned if President Duterte was serious about his assertion, yet she responded: “I don’t know if he was serious. But when he told me, he was not laughing.”
Teo mentioned he’d recommend to pageant organizers to select a Filipina co-host to appease Duterte, as opposed to picking Harvey.
“I’ll suggest that we will have somebody from here, probably a media woman to host,” the tourism head said.
“I’m sure that after the Miss Universe, the Philippines will be in the world map. Everybody will be looking at us because during the Miss Universe contest, all the beautiful places, the destinations, will be featured,” Teo added.
In January 2017, additional events would be held in places outside Metro Manila to avoid traffic jam.
The grand coronation night will be held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay on January 30.
The contenders coming from the participating nations are expected to arrive starting January 13.