Copyright TODAY
Tom Bergeron is putting his dancing shoes back on. The former host of “Dancing with the Stars” will return to the hit ABC series, now in Season 34, for its Nov. 11 episode. He’ll appear as a guest judge to help celebrate the show's 20th anniversary. “I’m anticipating that it’s going to be a wonderfully emotional, nostalgic night,” Bergeron told TV Insider. “In the audience will be a number of past champions and competitors," he added. "There’s a special dance challenge that is going to factor into the anniversary night that will evoke even more nostalgia. It’s going to be great. And I’ll tell you, it’s so much fun to watch my friends do the work. I don’t have to throw to commercials. I don’t have to worry about the timing.” Bergeron also said he will happily play second fiddle to current co-host Alfonso Ribeiro, who competed on the show in 2014 before becoming a host in 2022. Julianne Hough joined as his co-host in 2023. “I’ll be respectful and sensitive of what Alfonso has to deal with, ’cause I’ve been there,” he said. “But I’m just looking forward to being in an environment surrounded by people I really care about on live television, where there’s no second take. It’s my happy place.” As for what viewers can expect to see from Bergeron at the judges' table? “It’s going to be very similar to my hosting style: somewhat loose and unpredictable,” he said. Why Did Tom Bergeron Leave 'Dancing with the Stars'? Bergeron was the original co-host of “Dancing with the Stars” when it premiered in 2005. He remained in the role, winning one Emmy for his work on the show, until he left the series in 2020 after he objected to the casting of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Bergeron, who was replaced at the time by Tyra Banks, said he had previously been assured no political figures would compete on the show. “And I said, ‘Guys, this is exactly what we said we wouldn’t do,’” Bergeron said of his reaction to the casting during a 2023 appearance on dancer Cheryl Burke's “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast. “And I would have responded the same way if they had booked Hillary Clinton, whom I voted for. ‘Don’t go there. This is, you know, not the right time. Play to our strengths. Be the show that gives people a break from all this bulls---.’ So, I was furious,” he added. After Spicer was cast in 2019, Bergeron posted his disapproval in a since-deleted post on Twitter, now X. “A few months ago, during a lunch with DWTS’ new Executive Producer, I offered suggestions for Season 28,” Bergeron wrote. “Chief among them was my hope that DWTS, in its return following an unprecedented year-long hiatus, would be a joyful respite from our exhausting political climate and free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations. I left that lunch convinced we were in agreement.” He said the casting decision was not his to make. “It is the prerogative of the producers, in partnership with the network, to make whatever decisions they feel are in the best long term interests of the franchise,” he wrote. “We can agree to disagree, as we do now, but ultimately it’s their call. I’ll leave it to them to answer any further questions about those decisions.”
