ABC Tom Bergeron on 'Dancing with the Stars: Athletes'
Tom Bergeron was a staple on Dancing With the Stars for 28 seasons and he also hosted America’s Funniest Videos for 13 years, so he is certainly qualified to be considered to take over for the late Alex Trebek as the host of popular TV quiz show Jeopardy!. But is he interested? The answer might surprise you.
Read on for what Bergeron said when asked about Jeopardy! and who he thinks would make a great new host.
Bergeron Has ‘No Urge’ to Host a TV Show Anymore
In a recent interview with Vicki Abelson, the author asked Bergeron if he would consider throwing his hat in the ring as the new Jeopardy! host and he said no — in fact, he’s not interested in hosting TV at all now that he has been fired from Dancing With the Stars.
“I have no urge to host a television show anymore. I don’t,” said Bergeron. “I feel like I’ve done it, I’ve done every format you can imagine, from talk shows to quiz shows, whatever, dance shows, clips shows, I’ve done them. And it’s been wonderful, it’s been great, but you know — been there, done that.”
He did toss out a few names as to who he thinks would be some good replacements for Trebek, who died in November 2020 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Bergeron said that while Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings is a fine choice, he’d love to see someone who isn’t “a 65-year-old white guy” do it.
“Whoever does it next, whether it’s Ken Jennings or — I would love to see Levar Burton or Danica McKellar, who’s a friend and is brilliant and extremely charismatic, and Levar, I think would be a great choice too — someone who could bring a different kind of look and feel and spin to it. They don’t need a 65-year-old white guy who’s pretty much done anyway,” said Bergeron.
We had not thought about McKellar, but that’s a great choice. So is Burton.
Bergeron Also Shared an Alex Trebek Memory
Bergeron also spoke very highly of the late Jeopardy! host, about how inspiring he was at the end and then shared a funny story from when Bergeron was on Celebrity Jeopardy.
“When I heard that Alex had passed — and what a brave man he was and how magnanimous of him, in the midst of his struggle, to be that honest, to reach out to other people who might have been in pain and to try to help them through his own experience. I just thought that was — whatever other accolades he got in his career, he deserves the most for how he dealt with that disease that ultimately took him,” said Bergeron.
He added that the one time he appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy, he froze up and Trebek got a good zing in on him.
“I was on a Celebrity Jeopardy that they shot in Vegas, I was horrible because I froze completely,” Bergeron recalled. “At one point, I remember going, ‘Alex, my buzzer’s not working!’ and he just very dryly looked at me and said, ‘We hear that a lot.'”
Dancing With the Stars has not yet officially been renewed for season 30, but if ABC does renew it, expect it to premiere in September 2021.