Tyra Banks Says She Was ‘Blamed’ For DWTS Debacle: ‘It Wasn’t Me’

ABC Tyra Banks on the set of Dancing With the Stars season 29

“Dancing With the Stars” host Tyra Banks was recently asked about the fan response to her first year hosting and she has a message for the haters out there: “be angry and watch.” Read on to find out why the criticism doesn’t get to her and why she was unfairly “blamed” for announcing the wrong elimination in season 29.

Tyra Banks Says ‘Change Is Hard’

During a recent panel with the 2021 Television Critics Association summer press tour, Banks was asked about the fan who loved former host Tom Bergeron and who are calling for her to be fired. Her message to them is that they should “be angry and watch” the show.

“Watch the show. Like, watch. Be angry and watch,” said Banks.

She added that Bergeron was an “amazing” host, but “change is necessary,” even if it is hard.

“Change is necessary. It is so necessary … I was the big change last year, and there’s a big change this year [with a same-sex pairing]. And change must happen. We must continue to evolve,” said Banks. “And there will be a change where I won’t host anymore, and people will be pissed, ‘Tyra was so good.  Why don’t you bring back Tyra?’ That is just the state of the world, and we’re moving forward.”

Banks Also Said She Was Unfairly ‘Blamed’ For the Elimination Debacle

When Banks was asked about getting used to live TV, Banks reminded the reporters that she is not new to live TV and this is why she was hired by “Dancing With the Stars.”

“I’m not nervous necessarily with live television. I was a little nervous right
before I walked out in the beginning, but in general, I wasn’t really nervous. But I was doing something that the show had never done before, which is hosting alone. And so it used to take two people to do what I was doing, and I’m literally thrown in and having to handle all of that. So it was a challenge,” said Banks.

She also directly addressed the mistake last season when she told Monica Aldama and Val Chmerkovskiy that they were safe when in fact they were in the bottom two. Fans were up in arms about it, calling for Banks to be fired from the show.

“Then the famous debacle, I mean, people see my face. … the world sees
me. They don’t understand that there’s a whole thing going on,” Banks continued. “So I take the darts and have chosen to be talent in the entertainment industry. And that’s who the world sees. So the world is angry at the talent.”

But during that situation, there was a whole control room feeding Banks the wrong information, something executive producer Andrew Llinares confirmed.

“I have to just say, Tyra, in that moment, was so unbelievably professional. Because there was a lot going on behind the scenes. She had a lot of voices in her ear because something had happened behind the scenes. And it was astonishing how calmly she dealt with it. She was an utter professional. And I couldn't have been happier with the way that you dealt with it.  It was amazing, Tyra,” said Llinares.

“Our team will make mistakes.  They see my face, and that’s what gets
written up. … I was blamed for it, and it wasn’t me. And I think that’s very important to say,” said Banks.

“Dancing With the Stars” season 30 premieres Monday, September 20, 2021, at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on ABC. The first two cast members have already been revealed, with the remaining cast coming on “Good Morning America” on September 8.

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