‘Dancing With the Stars’ Searching for Tyra Banks Replacement: Report

ABC Tyra Banks

Viewers of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” have had an overall mixed reaction to Tyra Banks since she took over for long-time hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews ahead of season 29.

Now, according to a report by The Sun, executives may be looking to replace Banks as the host of the show.

The show is also set to only air once in 2022, as has been the pattern since Banks took over as host in 2020. The show airs in the fall season on Monday nights.

DWTS Is Looking for ‘A-List Stars’

According to a source speaking with The Sun, Banks has a meeting coming up with ABC executives in early 2022 to “map out 2022” and talk about the show. The source told the outlet that they may not be replacing Banks as host and may instead look for A-List stars to be part of the competition.

The bosses, the source told The Sun, are looking to sign “at least one major star” to get people back into “Dancing With the Stars.”

The hope is that the show will be able to sign “at least one or ideally two major household names that fascinate fans” and to “think big” so that they can get a star who has won “an Oscar, Emmy or Grammy” and make headlines while on the show.

The show is looking for a ratings boost after hitting multiple new lows during season 30, which was set to be a monumental season.

Ratings Hit a New Low

While the season finale did see a huge boost in viewership from the previous episode, according to the recorded ratings on TVSeriesFinale, the show still hit a record low when it comes to number of viewers who tuned in for the finale of a season.

The finale of “Dancing With the Stars” season 30 drew in 5.64 million viewers, which was up nearly 18% from the week before. The show also had a high rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is coveted by networks.

There are many reasons that viewers may not have tuned in to the season. Some vowed to boycott the show when they realized that Tyra Banks would be returning for her second season as host. Others were upset when it was revealed that pop star JoJo Siwa would be dancing with a female partner in the first female partnership in the show’s history.

The season has been down in viewership as a whole when compared to the previous seasons.

For context, the second episode of season 29 pulled in 6.09 million viewers. The premiere of season 29, however, brought in 8.21 million, according to TVSeriesFinale. The drop in numbers is huge when compared to the current season.

A previous report by The Sun has an insider saying that the executives are not blaming host Tyra Banks for the low ratings and are instead concentrating on the talent pool for the show.

“There is a sense that they do not want to make any comments, because they were the ones to bring in Tyra,” the source told the outlet. “And no one wants to lose face saying out loud there are problems. It doesn’t reflect well on their decision. So far the only discussion point about the struggles has been that it is the talent pool this year, which has not appealed to audiences – and nothing to do with Tyra.”

“Dancing With the Stars” has not yet been renewed for season 31. If it does get renewed, the show will return sometime in mid-September of 2022.

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