Heavy/ABC A 'Dancing With the Stars" alum spoke out.
Former “Dancing With the Stars” co-host Samantha Harris opened up about her time on the show—and an unusual request she was given by producers.
In a December 11, 2023 interview on Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” podcast, Harris revealed that producers once gave her an odd directive to change her looks because she looked too much like the dancers.
Here’s what you need to know:
Producers Told Samantha Harris to Gain Weight & Stop Tanning
While speaking with Burke, Harris recounted a meeting she had with DWTS producers. “I remember I got a note,” she said. “I actually got called into a meeting, and they said ‘Samantha, going into the next season…”
“My interpretation was that they said to me ‘You need to be pasty and pudgy,” she revealed. “But really what they said to me was, ‘You’re getting too tan and too toned that the viewers are confusing you for one of the dancers because you’re too tan and too toned. And so that’s confusing for them. And they need to be able to relate to you as the host being basically a complete dichotomy next to the dancers. So we need you to stop doing any self-tanning—which I’ll admit I tanned as much you guys did—and we need you to gain weight.’”
Burke appeared flabbergasted by the producers’ alleged request. “Wait, this is a joke,” she said to Harris.
Harris then revealed she told producers “okay” and that she had it “covered.” “Because little did they know, it was too early for me to share but I was pregnant,” Harris said. “So I wasn’t going to be tanning because I didn’t know what the chemicals were that would be seeping into my body, and I was going to be gaining weight. So there you go!”
Samantha Harris Revealed She Was Let Go From DWTS
GettyCarrie Ann Inaba, Samantha Harris, Tom Bergeron, and Brooke Burke.
Harris was Tom Bergeron’s co-host on the celebrity ballroom show for seven seasons. She exited the show in 2010. But she told Burke her dream job ended unexpectedly when she “got that call we never want to hear.” “And that was a call from our exec producer Conrad [Green],” she shared.
At the time, the story was that Harris left on her own accord. A rep told Us Weekly in 2010 Harris took on “expanded responsibilities on The Insider.”
But Harris told Burke that’s not quite how things went down. ‘The public story that I told at that time with the blessing of ABC, which was, that was true that I was leaving the show for season 10 to focus on ‘Entertainment Tonight’ because they needed more of me. So that was sort of the story that we told,” she said.
“But in reality, that phone call came from Conrad,” Harris added. “He said, ‘Look we’re going into season 10 and the network executives have decided they need something to look different on the show. They need something really different to keep eyeballs watching.’ And so the thing that the network came up with was, ‘Well the first thing you see when you turn on the TV are the hosts. So let’s change one of them.’”
Brooke Burke replaced Harris as co-host on “Dancing with the Stars.” In 2017, Harris admitted she sometimes misses working on the celebrity ballroom show.
“A part of me wishes I could go back. But it led me down the path to other incredible projects,” she told Closer Weekly. “DWTS was a dream job on so many levels. Watching the dancers and guest singers up close and the gowns with genuine diamonds and rubies weren’t so bad!”
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