‘Dancing With the Stars’ Alum Criticizes Show For Tom Bergeron Firing

Getty Tom Bergeron

Joey Fatone, a contestant and former judge on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” recently opened up about the firing of Tom Bergeron from the hosting role on the show, which was announced over a year ago.

Fatone competed on season 4 of “Dancing With the Stars,” coming in second place alongside Kym Johnson. Then, he returned for the all-star season 15 where he came in 12th place overall, according to the “Dancing With the Stars” wiki. He was also a guest judge in season 28.

Bergeron was fired from the show alongside his co-host Erin Andrews in 2020 ahead of season 29 of the competition. Tyra Banks stepped into the hosting position for season 29 to mixed reactions from fans. The professional model and TV star will be returning to host the show for season 30 as well.

Fatone Says Tom Bergeron Being Fired Was ‘Weird’

In an interview with Us Weekly, Fatone said that he thought the firing was odd.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Tom because I don’t really know what happened,” Fatone told the outlet. “That was just weird how it all went down. Nothing wrong with Tyra [Banks], but Tom really – and Erin [Andrews] is great, don’t get me wrong – but Tom was the freakin’ starter.

He added, “He’s the backbone of all that stuff. He’s the one that was there from day one and he’s great at it.”

The star continued on, saying that he thought “Dancing With the Stars” had been fine and didn’t need to change anything.

“But they did what they have to do and maybe they wanted to go in a different direction,” Fatone shared with the outlet.

‘Dancing With the Stars’ Returns in Fall 2021

ABC released their fall 2021 lineup in May, and “Dancing With the Stars” had its time slot confirmed.

Luckily for avid “Dancing With the Stars” fans and viewers, there aren’t really any changes to the schedule that will affect them. The show will still air on Monday nights at 8 p.m. live for the East Coast, according to TV Line.

Though the season premiere has not yet been officially announced, there are a few clues we can use to figure out when the show will start to air. It’s likely that, since the show will still be airing on Monday nights, the season premiere will be on Monday, September 13, 2021. If that’s not the case, it could premiere a week later. That’s because each season, the show premieres in mid-September.

Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman will all be returning to the ballroom. Tyra Banks will return to host the show, and a number of professional dancers are hoping to return including Lindsay Arnold, Witney Carson, Gleb Savchenko and Cheryl Burke.

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“Dancing With the Stars” will return in the fall of 2021 for an all-new season. The new season will likely air starting in mid-September.

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