Steve Harvey is finally meeting with Miss Colombia for the first time since his "Miss Universe" flub, where he mistakenly crowned her as the pageant’s winner, only to come back minutes later and announce he had made an error.
Harvey, who has been relatively silent on the issue since it first happened, reveals his side of the story in a two-day "Steve Harvey" series called "Miss Universe: The Truth," airing Monday and Tuesday on his daytime talk show.
Harvey will be joined by the newly crowned Miss Universe from the Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, and first runner-up from Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez.
"This has caused a lot of sleepless nights for me," Harvey said. "I didn't do any interviews until I could talk to the two people who were affected the most, Pia and Ariadna. No matter how tough it was for me, I can't imagine how it was for these two women. This finally gives me a chance to have a moment of closure."
Part one of the special airs Monday, where the talk show host says "nothing is off limits." He hosts an "Ask Steve" segment where audience members ask what people around the world have wanted answers to for weeks. In it, he reveals that his family has received death threats since the pageant mistake.
"Death threats against your family," he said. "I can't let my kids go nowhere. That's difficult."
He also gets emotional when talking about his wife's support.
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"Man, you got to have somebody with you, somebody to climb down into the hole with you," he said. "And she did."
The 58-year-old talk show host has been the subject of social media memes and criticism since the incident last month.
During the pageant, Harvey initially said Gutierrez would be going home with the largest crown, but the honor was actually meant for Wurtzbach.
"I have to apologize," he said during the pageant. "The first runner-up is Colombia."
He explained to the audience and viewers that he misread the card that held the names of the winners. Colombia was listed as the first runner-up, and he'd been confused with how it was written on the card. He held it up for the camera.
"It is my mistake," he said. "Still, it's a great night. Please don't hold it against the ladies. We feel very badly, but it's still a great night."
He notes in Monday's episode that he wasn't told to walk back onstage and make that correction, but he made the decision himself.
"I decided on my own. I walked back out on my own," he said. "I didn't want to walk back out there and looking back on it man there's been days since then I wish I hadn't walked back out there. But I walked back out there because if I don't walk back out here, Miss Philippines, who was the real Miss Universe, she don't get her moment."
He added that he would do it again if he had to.
According to "Steve Harvey" producers, Harvey sits down with Wurtzbach in Monday's episode for an "honest and unfiltered one-on-one conversation, revealing what it was like to go through the incident, her reaction to winning the crown, how much contact she’s had with Miss Colombia and more."
"I tried to keep a safe distance from her as not to disrespect her," she said in the interview. "I mean no, because I didn't want her to feel bad. I was being sensitive to her feelings. So, when I was standing there, I was very happy that I won, I was excited. But I was also thinking about her and I couldn't help but think about how tough this must be for her."
At one point, Wurtzbach walks out to address rumors that Harvey didn't attend rehearsals for the pageant.
"Steve was there throughout all the rehearsals. He was there during technical rehearsals, dress rehearsals, even on the pageant day itself when we had the dress rehearsals early in the morning," she said. "He was there all throughout."
In Tuesday’s episode, Harvey meets with Gutierrez, the woman he mistakenly announced had won the Miss Universe pageant.
"My heart bled for her, and I haven't been able to talk to her since," he said.
The interview marks the pair’s first conversation since the pageant. In it, Gutierrez talks about her emotions as the ordeal unraveled, the reactions of her family and fellow Colombians, how she handled the aftermath on social media and whether or not she can forgive Harvey for the mistake.
