MANILA — Reigning Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach will not co-host with Steve Harvey for the 65th Miss Universe pageant that will be held here on Jan.30, 2017, said Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo in a briefing Monday.
“Pia can’t host the pageant since she will have her final walk and will pass the crown to the next Miss Universe,” Teo said in Filipino.
But the tourism chief mentioned that three Filipinas have auditioned as Harvey’s co-host for the pageant. She, however, declined to name the co-host.
In a previous statement, Teo said a co-host will help to avoid last year’s gaffe in announcing the Miss Universe title holder.
During the Miss Universe 2015, in which Harvey hosted, he read the wrong name in announcing the winner. It took Wurtzbach’s moment of glory as the pageant’s winner.
Moreover, as Wurtzbach turns over the Miss Universe crown to her successor, Teo said, the beauty queen would join senator and boxing champion Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao as the country’s tourism ambassadors. Kris Crismundo/PNA-northboundasia.com