It’s good to be prepared. Steve Harvey opened the 2017 Miss Universe pageant on Sunday, January 29, with a very important meeting — to discuss an “escape plan,” in case he said the wrong name at the end again. The skit lampooned that infamous moment from December 2015 when the comedian was hosting the previous Miss Universe pageant and mistakenly identified Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, as the winner instead of Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach.
In the “meeting” to kick off Fox’s telecast of the 2017 event, Harvey convened with a group of security professionals and explained, “If something happens at the end, if I get this name wrong, I step to the right, and I drop down in this trap door.” He joked that as he escaped, the other men would be responsible for finding someone who looks exactly like Harvey to bring on stage.
“I’m going to go up to the roof and zip-line over to the other building,” the Family Feud host, 60, added. Wielding a tape measure, he assured the team that he had “measured” and would be able to make it.
Then he would escape in a bakery truck to the airport (this year’s pageant takes place in the Philippines) to catch a flight back to the United States. He broke the news that there would not be room for the security team on the plane, and this caused them to sit solemnly, pondering their fate should Harvey repeat his gaffe.
Once he took the stage, Harvey told the audience, “Let’s get this out of the way. 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. I’m back!”
The Little Big Shots star added that he “paid the price” for last year, but said he learned that when you “make a mistake, you just got to get up and keep going.” The comedian also said he had recently undergone eye surgery so that he would “get it right” this year.
The 2017 Miss Universe Competition airs on Fox Sunday, January 29, at 7 p.m. ET.
