It’s been five years since Tom Bergeron exited Dancing With the Stars after 28 seasons as the show’s host. Now, he’s hinting at a potential return to the ballroom.
In an interview with USA Today, published on Thursday, July 17, Bergeron revealed that he has been catching up with DWTS executive producer Conrad Green. “He’s been largely responsible for getting the show back on track,” the TV personality said.
However, Bergeron shared that he turned down an invite from Green to attend the show’s 500th episode special during Season 33 last year. “I said that I’d get too fidgety sitting in the audience,” he noted.
Bergeron went on to state that he pitched a potential DWTS return for himself to Green. “We did have lunch, and we did talk, and I offered a scenario where I might come back for a night in a certain capacity,” he told the outlet. “The mirrorball is back in their court.”
Back in July 2020, Bergeron shocked fans by revealing he was exiting DWTS after 28 seasons. “Just informed @DancingABC will be continuing without me. It’s been an incredible 15 year run and the most unexpected gift of my career,” he tweeted at the time. “I’m grateful for that and for the lifelong friendships made. That said, now what am I supposed to do with all of these glitter masks?”
Adam Taylor / ©ABC / Courtesy Everett Collection
ABC and BBC Studios added in a statement that Bergeron’s cohost, Erin Andrews, would also not be returning as the show was headed in a “new creative direction.” The pair was succeeded by Tyra Banks, who hosted Seasons 29 and 30 solo and cohosted Season 31 with Alfonso Ribeiro. Julianne Hough took over Banks’ role for Season 32 and continues to cohost alongside Ribeiro.
In the years since his final DWTS season, Bergeron has been candid about the events leading up to his exit. During an October 2023 interview on former DWTS pro Cheryl Burke‘s Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast, he recalled how the casting of former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer for Season 28 caused a rift between him and the show’s producers.
“I said, ‘Guys, this is exactly what we said we wouldn’t do. Don’t go there,’” he recalled. “‘This is, you know, not the right time, play to our strengths, be the show that gives people a break from all this bulls***.’”
On the podcast, Bergeron said producers suggested he “take the season off” and even offered to let him out of his contract. “That’s how strongly they felt… it really pissed me off,” he said.
Bergeron later released a social media statement saying he had hoped Season 28 “would be a joyful respite from our exhausting political climate and free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations,” which ruffled some feathers.
“They had screwed me. I’m gonna screw them,” he told Burke. “But I wanted the viewers to know this was a step too far to me. This was a step too far on the cusp of an election year. And again — had it been a Democrat, same statement.”
Dancing With the Stars will return for Season 34 later this year. The announced cast of competitors so far includes influencer Alix Earle, TV personality and conservationist Robert Irwin, and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives‘ Jennifer Affleck and Whitney Leavitt.
Dancing with the Stars, Season 34 premiere, Tuesday, September 16, 8/7c, ABC