‘DWTS Should Be an Oasis’: Tom Bergeron, 70, Returns as Judge After His Dramatic Exit: Here’s Why He Really Left
He's back in the ballroom after 5 years—and the reason he left will surprise you
By now you’ve probably heard the news that Tom Bergeron is officially returning to Dancing with the Stars—but not as a host. No, the 70-year-old is going to be a guest judge during this week’s birthday themed celebration. We share everything you need to know about his exciting return, including why he left in the first place, below.
Why Tom Bergeron, 70, left ‘Dancing With the Stars’ after 28 seasons
Bergeron joined Dancing with the Stars way back in 2005 as host alongside Erin Andrews. He remained there for 28 seasons, and was untimely let go in 2020 after he got into a disagreement with producers over the casting of Sean Spicer, President Donald Trump’s former Press Secretary, believing that politics should be kept out of the ballroom.
“I’ve always felt Dancing With the Stars should be the two hours where you can just get away from all the bulls**t and enjoy yourself, and have fun and look at the camaraderie of the cast. One of the things that is evident this season, and has been evident in every season that I hosted, is that these are people who are competing against each other, and yet they establish this bond of friendship that survives the show,” Bergeron told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month. “That’s the kind of energy we should be encouraging. I get the whole canard about, ‘Well, it shows that they’re real people, too.’ No, it doesn’t, it just heightens the tensions. I think Dancing With the Stars should be that oasis.”
“I can’t tell you that I didn’t follow the show that closely at all for the first few years after I was fired, so I can’t speak to who was on it, even beyond who was hosting it. What I get a kick out of is when every so often on social media, I’ll see somebody, like, ‘Well, if Tom hadn’t brought politics into the show, he wouldn’t have got fired.’ It’s, like, ‘Guys, I was the one who was trying not to bring politics into the show. Even when I released my statement, I was very careful not to mention a political party or Sean [Spicer], because that wasn’t the issue,” he continued. “I even said to Sean, ‘If they had cast Hillary Clinton—I voted for her, I don’t want her on the show. We’re on the cusp of an election year, in 2019.’ It was the wrong move, and after having been assured they wouldn’t do something like that, for them to turn around and do it, that was just the last straw.”
Since leaving the show Bergeron has remained in the public eye, however not as prominently as he waswhile hosting. He is still married to his wife Lois Bergeron, and they have two children together.
Why Tom Bergeron is returning to ‘Dancing with the Stars’ after 5 years away
For the 20th birthday celebration, Dancing with the Stars is bringing Bergeron back as a guest judge. He will work alongside Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli and it will be his first time stepping back into the ballroom since he got fired in 2020.
“If the previous regime was still in charge of the show, I wouldn’t go back. It was really because Conrad’s [Green, the showrunner] there, and you can tell. Just look at what the show is doing. It’s having a resurgence. It’s doing things that I can’t imagine many, if any, 20-year-old shows have done,” Bergeron said in that same Hollywood Reporter interview. “I think they have very cleverly made it a younger show… Look who they’re casting. They’re casting influencers and people who, when I was there, would have been, [like], ‘Really?’ But it’s working. It’s attracting a younger audience. It feels younger in a lot of ways when I watch it. I think they’ve adapted to the times very well.”
Be sure to watch Tom Bergeron return to the ballroom on Tuesday, November 10, at 8 p.m. EST on ABC and Disney+.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
