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Tom Bergeron made a long-awaited return return to Dancing with the Stars, but he didn’t have any of his former co-hosts by his side. On Nov. 11, the beloved former host returned as a guest judge for the ABC celebrity ballroom competition’s 20th birthday celebration, but there was no Erin Andrews, Brooke Burke, Samantha Harris, or Lisa Canning by his side. None of the four women, all of whom co-hosted DWTS with Bergeron over the past 20 years, was even in the audience. Harris, who served as co-host of DWTS from Seasons 2 to 9, shared a montage of memories on Instagram as she looked back on her time in the ABC ballroom. “#DWTS anniversary show memory lane!” she captioned the slideshow. “Co-hosting the show with my partner-in-crime @tombergeron for 8 seasons, working alongside so many fun celebs, watching the insanely talented pro dancers up-close and becoming friends with so many of them off the ballroom floor as well — I could never have asked for a better job or one that encapsulated more perfectly my passions (and first love) of performing and theatricality.” She then explained that she was traveling on the night of the DWTS celebration episode. “So sad to miss being there in the audience with all the past cast members and crew tonight (but a pre-planned trip kept me from attending tonight, so I will miss dancing the night away with you all at the after-party but am there in spirit!),” Harris added. Harris wasn’t the only DWTS co-host who explained her absence from the festivities. Burke, who served as Bergeron’s wing woman from Seasons 10-17, revealed that she has firmly left DWTS in her past. “I never say no just to never close doors, professionally, but that was eight seasons and I did everything I needed to do in the ballroom,” Burke explained on Jennie Garth’s I Choose Me podcast in early November. “It would be hard to go back there with the same level of excitement and appreciation. A redo is hard for me. I feel like I wrung it out and did everything I needed to do on that show.” As for Andrews, the longest-running DWTS co-host from Seasons 18 to 28, her absence from the 20th anniversary show left fans wondering. On Reddit, one fan asked, “I wonder why Erin Andrews isn’t coming? Did she burn bridges with the show?” Andrews is a top sports reporter, so fans still see her on TV. But in a 2021 interview with the Token CEO podcast, she admitted she didn’t keep up with Dancing with the Stars. “I actually don’t watch the show,” she said at the time. Canning, who only appeared on one season of DWTS in 2005 before “a decision was made to go in a different direction,” per Variety, has seemingly left the entertainment industry, so her absence from the DWTS 20th anniversary was less unexpected.
