Pia Wurtzbach to Steve Harvey: Thank you for making me the most popular Miss Universe

Pia Wurtzbach to Steve Harvey: Thank you for making me the most popular Miss Universe (Photo: Pia Wurtzbach Official/Facebook)

MANILA—Reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach, who is to set to pass her crown to her successor on Monday (Philippine time), thanked American host Steve Harvey for a mistake he made about a year ago.

During the opening portion of the Miss Universe coronation, Harvey made it a point to acknowledge the mistake he made in reading the name of the winner during the last pageant held December 2015 where he announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez instead of Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach as the next Miss Universe.

Harvey poked fun at his own error: “I know what you’re thinking. Is that the guy from last year? Did they bring back that guy from last year? Well they did. It’s me. It’s been a long year. Boy I paid the price from last year.”

“When you make a mistake, you just gotta keep on moving forward,” he said.

The American host later quipped about having “stuff done” to his eyes.

“When the name comes up on the card, we’ll get it right this year.”

Wurtzbach, who Harvey described as “the pride of the Philippines and embodies everything that the crown stands for” later joined him on stage wearing a hot pink gown.

The reigning Miss Universe, who revealed that she signed with IMG (owner of Miss Universe) then shocked Harvey by thanking him for a major blunder he would rather put behind him.

“I never really got to thank you. Thank you for making me the most popular Miss Universe,” Wurtzbach said.

Harvey then replied by saying: “Thank you for making me the most famous host of Miss Universe.”

Wurtzbach later went on by saying that she was humbled my her experience in Miss Universe and said that it was “about time to put the Philippines back on the world’s stage.”

“We’re just waiting to be recognized. Holding it here it’s about time. We have so much beauty, so much to offer,” she added.

The opening portion was kicked off with a song numbers from four-time Grammy nominee Flo Rida best known for his songs “In the Ayer”, “Low”, and “Zillionaire.”

Each of the 86 candidates made final walks before the top 13 candidates were announced.