Mario Lopez, Olivia Culpo to host Miss Universe pageant this year
Miss Universe is getting new hosts for its pageant this year—the first time since 2015 that Steve Harvey won’t be hosting the competition’s coronation night.
In a social media post on Wednesday, April 21, the Miss Universe Organization announced that TV host-actor Mario Lopez and model Olivia Culpo will be hosting the 69th Miss Universe pageant, which will be held on Sunday, May 17 (Monday, May 18 in the Philippines).
The two are no strangers to the Miss Universe family. Lopez hosted the pageant in 2007. Meanwhile, Culpo won the 2012 Miss Universe pageant, beating the Philippines’ Janine Tugonon, who placed second.
Mark your calendars – Access Hollywood’s @mariolopezviva and actress and model @oliviaculpo will host this year’s Miss Universe competition, LIVE on @FYI and streaming next day free on The #Roku Channel. @Roku ? pic.twitter.com/3HsGZVKXo9
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) April 20, 2021
Lopez and Culpo are replacing US TV host Harvey, who has been hosting the pageant since the 64th Miss Universe in 2015. Pageant fans would remember Harvey for erroneously announcing Colombia’s Ariadna Gutierrez as the pageant’s winner. Soon after Gutierrez was crowned, Harvey returned to the stage to apologize and declare that the Philippines’ Pia Wurtzbach was the winner, and Gutierrez was the runner-up.
Harvey went to the Philippines in 2017 to host the 65th Miss Universe pageant in Manila.
However, it seems Harvey may return to the Miss Universe stage in its future edition. After the Miss Universe Organization announced the pageant’s host for this year’s program, Harvey replied, saying: “I’ll miss you guys — but I’ll see you for the 70th!”
On Instagram, the Miss Universe account even replied: “We'll miss you too—but we will see you soon.
According to reports, the 70th Miss Universe pageant will be held in December this year, just seven months after the 69th edition of the contest.