Inside Why Dancing With the Stars Eliminated Its Hosts

ABC/Eric McCandless

Before the 2020 season of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars began to air, the show replaced its longtime hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews with a fresh face. For season 29 and likely beyond, Tyra Banks is the host in the ballroom.

During a press event early on in the season, executive producer Andrew Llinares spoke about why the show made the decision to shake up the hosting duties and called the move a necessary “evolution.”

“Any show that has been on like this for many, many seasons needs to continue to evolve,” he told reporters, according to TV Line. “It was about making the show feel fresh, feel new, and maybe make it a new audience.”

He stressed that they were aiming to avoid alienating “anyone who’s been watching the show for many, many years.”

Banks Was Hired as a Way to Make ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Evolve

While the executive producer did not outrightly say why they chose Banks or why they got rid of both the older hosts, he did have a comment on moving forward with just one host for the show.

“I think it’s really refreshed the pace of the show,” he said. “There’s a real danger, when a show’s been on for a long time, that the audience almost gets bored of the rhythm of it. It’s changed the rhythm of the show in a really exciting way. Tyra’s doing an amazing, amazing job.”

Despite the executive producer saying that Banks is doing an amazing job, some fans disagree. She has found herself the subject of Tweets from viewers saying that she is ruining the show.

Most recently, fans took to Twitter to make fun of one of Banks’ outfits, a huge yellow dress that she wore into the ballroom. Throughout the episode, fans compared the new host to “Big Bird.”

Bergeron Says He Does Not Miss ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Longtime Dancing With the Stars host Tom Bergeron recently spoke about his exit from the show and even criticized the new direction that it was going on the Stuttering John Podcast. 

He did not speak ill of anyone in particular because he says he’s still friends with some of the people who work on DWTS, but he said that he does not miss working on the show since the vibe of it all changed around 2018.

“Well, I can’t speak to their mindset,” Bergeron said. “Look, my bottom line is, I’ve had a wonderful career. I’ve got friends who are still on that show, both on camera and behind the scenes, so, out of respect for them, that’s about all I’ll say.”

Later on in the interview, Bergeron was asked whether he misses being the host of Dancing With the Stars.  

“No,” he said almost immediately. “No, because it started changing early in 2018, there were staff changes and I think philosophical changes about how to do the show. So, I miss the earlier years. I miss up until that point when it had a different vibe, a different feel.”

He added that he’s enjoying his time off because he has money saved up and wants to take time off.

“I’m 65, I’ve got some money in the bank, I’m enjoying my life,” he added.

Dancing With the Stars airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Mondays on ABC.

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