Heavy/Getty/ABC Tom Bergeron.
Tom Bergeron shared new details about his firing from “Dancing with the Stars,” and he received a response from the contestant who spawned it all.
The veteran television host exited the celebrity ballroom competition in 2020 following a volatile season 28 casting decision.
In October 2023, Bergeron told Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” podcast that his firing occurred after he publicly reacted to producers’ decision to cast former White House press secretary Sean Spicer on season 28. While speaking with Burke, Bergeron said producers “screwed” him by casting Spicer behind his back.
Spicer issued a response to The New York Post. “I’ve always thought Tom was a great host,” he said. Spicer also told the outlet he “loved being a part of Season 28.” Spicer noted that he’s “thoroughly enjoying the current season” of the ABC celebrity ballroom competition.
Bergeron announced his exit from “Dancing With the Stars” in July 2020 via a tweet. “I have been informed @DancingABC will be continuing without me,” he wrote at the time.
Here’s what you need to know:
Tom Bergeron Felt Betrayed by DWTS Producers
The job drama started in 2019 when Spicer became a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars.” At the time, Bergeron did not hide his opinion on the casting decision.
On Burke’s podcast, Bergeron shared that ahead of season 28, he met with producers and they agreed not to cast any controversial political figures ahead of the 2020 presidential election to give people “a break from all this bulls****.” Bergeron later received a call about the cast list during which a showrunner told him he “might want to sit down.”
He then learned that Spicer, Donald Trump’s former press secretary, was on the cast. Bergeron said he pleaded with the producers not to do “exactly what we said we wouldn’t do.”
After the veteran DWTS host requested to take the season off, producers suggested he could be released from his contract instead. “That’s how strongly they felt,” Bergeron said. “It really pissed me off.”
At the time, Bergeon posted a statement to Twitter. According to the Los Angeles Times, he wrote that he had been assured that the show would not cast any “divisive political figures.” He admitted that casting “is the prerogative” of the producers and network.
He noted that he thought producers were in agreement with him on casting, but they went in “a different direction.”
On Burke’s podcast, Bergeron described casting Spicer as “a step too far” with a presidential election looming. He also explained why he made the rogue post. “My temper kicked in and I wanted to at least let people know that they f****** lied to me,” he said.
“I wrote the statement that I wrote, that did not name anybody, that did not name a political party,” he explained. “It merely said, ‘I was told certain things when asked my opinion, they agreed, and now they’ve thrown a curveball.”
Bergeron didn’t give producers a heads-up that he was going to make the post because they “didn’t deserve to know.” “They had screwed me. I’m gonna screw them,” he said.
Sean Spicer Had Hoped Tom Bergeron Would Come Around
GettyLindsay Arnold and Sean Spicer.
Bergeron ultimately stayed on DWTS for season 28. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Spicer said he hoped Bergeron would look at the positive side of his casting.
“My hope is that at the end of the season, Tom looks back on this and realizes what a great example it was of being able to bring people of really diverse backgrounds together to have fun with each other, engage in a real civil and respectful way, and maybe show millions of Americans how we can get back to that kind of interaction,” he said.
Spicer ultimately made it to eight weeks in the competition. And while Bergeron stuck it out, he told Burke he knew season 28 would probably be “his last season because of that one betrayal” by producers.
During a 2021 appearance on Bob Saget’s “Here for You” podcast, Bergeron admitted, “The show that I left was not the show that I loved.”
“At the end of the season that turned out to be my last season, I kind of knew,” he admitted. “I took everything out of my dressing room that I really wanted. … It was kind of obvious that we were kind of butting heads. It wasn’t a pleasant [experience].”
“I wasn’t surprised that that was my last season,” the former “Dancing With the Stars” host added.
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