Tom Bergeron Reveals What He Misses About ‘Dancing With The Stars’, Admits He “Never Watched” The Show
Tom Bergeron hosts the season 28 finale of 'Dancing with the Stars' on Nov. 25, 2019. Eric McCandless via Getty Images
Five years later, Tom Bergeron is dancing to the beat of his own dream.
After departing his Dancing with the Stars hosting gig in 2020, the TV personality joked that “the paycheck” is what he misses most about his 15 years on the show, as he was honored with the inaugural Sam Rubin Award at Saturday’s 6th Critics Choice Real TV Awards in Los Angeles.
“There are some people I miss,” Bergeron told E! News at the awards show. “But I’m really happy not hosting.”
Meanwhile, Bergeron hasn’t been keeping up with the ABC competition series. “To be honest, I never watched it when I was hosting it. I watched it while I was there, obviously, but I never watched it as a TV show,” he admitted.
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Bergeron announced his exit from DWTS in 2020, along with co-host Erin Andrews, as ABC said the show was going in “a new creative direction.” They were replaced by Tyra Banks, and the position has since been taken over by co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough.
Alan Bersten and Hannah Brown celebrate winning season 28 of Dancing with the Stars with host Tom Bergeron on Nov. 25, 2019. (Eric McCandless via Getty Images)
“Just informed @DancingABC will be continuing without me,” Bergeron wrote on Twitter at the time. “It’s been an incredible 15 year run and the most unexpected gift of my career. 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?”
After executive producer Andrew Llinares departed DWTS in 2022, Bergeron shared his response on the social platform: “Karma’s a bitch.”
Last October, Bergeron revealed that he offered to “take the season off” after Sean Spicer’s casting on season 28, and producers responded by offering to let the host out of his contract.
“And that really pissed me off,” he added on Cheryl Burke’s Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast, noting that it prompted him to release a statement expressing his disapproval of the divisive casting during a heated presidential election year.
“So at that moment, I knew this is probably my last season, because of that one betrayal. Up until that point, there were people of character there,” he explained.
“They had screwed me. I’m gonna screw them,” added Bergeron. “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.”
Last month, DWTS was renewed for season 33 at ABC.