Dancing With The Stars fans were shocked last week to learn that the show’s former host Tom Bergeron would be making a return to the iconic series to help celebrate its 20th anniversary.
And now the 70-year-old television personality is opening up about just what convinced him to make his long-awaited return after being fired from the series in 2020.
Bergeron, who shared that he will be a guest judge on Tuesday’s episode, explained in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that his return was only possible because a new creative team had taken over DWTS since his dismissal five years earlier.
According to him, it was the return of executive producer Conrad Green in 2022 — after the show hit a ratings nadir toward the end of Tyra Banks’ three-year tenure as host — that set the stage for him to make a guest appearance.
‘He had been my first showrunner back in 2005, and he came back on board when, I think it’s fair to say, the show was having a little bit of a rickety period,’ Bergeron explained. ‘He kind of put everything back together again, Humpty Dumpty-style [laughs], and he started extending an olive branch to me.’
Green’s first entreaty was for Bergeron to be a prominent audience member for the show’s 500th episode in 2024.
Former Dancing With The Stars host Tom Bergeron spoke about how the series lured him back as a guest judge for Tuesday’s episode to mark its 20th anniversary in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter; pictured in June 2024 in LA
Bergeron said it was the return of executive producer Conrad Green, who ran the show when he started hosting it, that convinced him to return; Robert Irwin and Witney Carson perform on November 4
‘While I appreciated the overture, I knew I’d be too fidgety just sitting there,’ the former host said. ‘I needed a role where I could cause a little more trouble, and being a guest judge was something I suggested to him at lunch a few months ago.
‘I said, “Look, I’ll charge you a scale, just union scale, and then you make a nice contribution to the Motion Picture and Television Fund,”‘ Bergeron recalled. ‘With those conditions in place, I felt very comfortable. And happily, they met my terms.’
But when the popular host was asked if he was returning to DWTS because of its 20th anniversary, he replied, ‘To be honest? No.’
According to Bergeron, it was mainly the change in creative leadership that made it feel safe to return.
‘If the previous regime was still in charge of the show, I wouldn’t go back,’ he said. ‘It was really because Conrad’s there, and you can tell.
‘Just look at what the show is doing. It’s having a resurgence,’ Bergeron continued. ‘It’s doing things that I can’t imagine many, if any, 20-year-old shows have done. They’ve been on a ratings tear.’
He added: ‘I said on Good Morning America, you’re more likely to see a zebra playing the piano than watch the success they’re having.’
After Bergeron’s ouster in 2020, Tyra Banks took over hosting duties and became an executive producer for three seasons. But by her final season, in 2022, the show’s ratings had begun to sink precipitously.
Green offered to have Bergeron back as an audience member for the 500th episode, but he declined, instead offering to be a guest judge if they would pay him scale and donate the rest of the usual fee to the Motion Picture and Television Fund; pictured in 2019 on DWTS
Bergeron said it wasn’t the anniversary that brought him back, but just the change in leadership. Green came on the show in 2022, after Bergeron’s replacement Tyra Banks (pictured) left following three seasons of cratering ratings
Bergeron praised the show — now hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro (L) and Julianne Hough — for righting the ship and earning the best ratings in years; Ribeiro is pictured with Irwin and Carson on November 4
Banks departed after that season, allegedly to focus on her business interests, and Green returned to oversee the series as EP, with Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air star Alfonso Ribeiro taking over as the primary host, while former professional dancer and judge Julianne Hough returned to be his co-host.
The first year of Ribeiro and Hough’s tenure marked an experiment in which DWTS moved from its longtime home at ABC to the Disney+ streaming service, though the show has aired simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ in each subsequent year.
Since the change in hosts and leadership, the series has seen a significant improvement in ratings, which are now the highest they’ve been since 2017, with several high-profile episodes still to come.
The improvement is unusual for television, which has seen an overall ratings decline as more viewers turn to streaming and social media for entertainment.
Bergeron was fired in 2020 after he reportedly objected to the show booking political figures — whether on the right or the left — as competitors, as he thought the series should be a respite from controversial and divisive political debates.
While speaking on former DWTS pro Cheryl Burke’s podcast in 2023, Bergeron said the nail in the coffin of his hosting tenure had been the decision to book former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who had been widely mocked for his over-the-top performance in the first Trump administration and was again lambasted for trying to rehabilitate his career.
‘At that moment, I knew, this was probably my last season,’ Bergeron confessed. ‘Because of that one betrayal. Because I’d been lied to by people who were in charge.’
Despite the ‘betrayal’ from his old job, Bergeron sounded positive about the show’s current team.
In 2023, Bergeron said on Cheryl Burke’s podcast that he was fired in 2020 after criticizing DWTS for booking political guests, including the widely derided former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer in 2019; pictured in 2021
‘I’ll tell you, it’s so much fun to watch my friends do the work,’ he gushed to TV Insider on Wednesday.
Bergeron shared with the outlet that he hopes to be seated next to judge Bruno Tonioli to maximize the ‘comedic potential.’
He also expressed surprised that judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Derek Hough were able to take notes while watching dancers compete.
‘To me, that’s like texting when you’re driving,’ he joked. ‘Watch the dance. You’ll remember what happened.’
