Howie Mandel Wants to Find ‘AGT’ Cohost Sofia Vergara’s ‘Perfect Match’

Howie Mandel defended his joke about Sofia Vergara’s newly single standing — and revealed he’s on a mission to discover her Mr. Right. 

“I think everybody watching [America’s Got Talent] who is available believes they’re the perfect match for Sofia,” Mandel, 67, advised Extra in an interview revealed on Wednesday, August 23. “I don’t think Sofía, to be honest … she doesn’t need my help. She really doesn’t. I believe that she’ll be fending them off.” 

He continued: “Let’s try and do it by the end of the season. We’ll find her a match and leave it to America to vote.”

Mandel, who cohosts AGT with Vergara, 51, known as the actress “a great friend, a brilliant person, businessperson [and] powerhouse” with “an amazing sense of humor” earlier than noting that whoever she finally ends up with is “really, really lucky.” 

Mandel’s feedback come someday after AGT’s first week of dwell exhibits, which kicked off on Tuesday, August 22, the place he had some shocking recommendation for 12-year-old ventriloquist Brynn Cummings. 

“I have one word of advice. If you’re looking for eligible bachelors, you should have talked to Sofia, because she’s in the market right now,” he joked, to which Vergara — who cut up from estranged husband Joe Manganiello in July — enthusiastically replied, “Yes!” 

When speaking to Extra on Wednesday, Mandel defended his remarks, regardless of receiving some pushback for attempting to get Vergara to go on a date so rapidly after calling it quits with Manganiello.

“People were online saying, ‘Too soon.’ I think as soon as you’re available, it’s never too soon. She’s fresh, people,” he quipped. “People thought that was mean and insensitive. If you watched Sofia, she screamed after she came over to me and thought it was funny. She said, ‘Yes,’ so she’s got a great sense of humor and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt a fellow — a friend first, and a fellow co-worker.”

After clearing the air, Mandel added: “‘[If] you can think of somebody [for Sofia to date], send it our way and we will either swipe left or right.” 

Tuesday’s episode of the NBC expertise present marked Vergara’s first TV look since Manganiello, 46, filed for divorce after virtually eight years of marriage. According to courtroom paperwork obtained by Us Weekly on the time, the estranged couple’s date of separation was listed as July 2. A supply later advised Us that Vergara and Manganiello had been now not “on the same page” of their relationship. 

“She would rather go out with friends and he would rather stay home, so they wouldn’t spend a lot of time together,” the insider defined. “They’ve been living separate lives for about a year now, so it was time to call things off.”

The actress has since filed authorized paperwork requesting for the course to implement the pair’s prenup, requesting sure property to stay beneath her possession and to preserve her earnings from earlier than and through her relationship with Manganiello.

As Vergara types out the small print of her cut up, Mandel isn’t the one one in every of her mates to touch upon her potential future romances. Julie Bowen, who starred alongside Vergara on Modern Family from 2009 to 2020, gushed over her longtime pal earlier this month. 

“Everything [Sofia] does, she does with grace,” Bowen, 53, advised E! News on Monday, August 21. “And she rises above and she just goes forward. She’s warm and generous and giving to everybody around her. I have no doubt that if she wishes to be in a relationship she will be but she sure don’t need one.”