Tom Bergeron Reacts to ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Boss Exit: ‘Karma’s a Bitch’
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Tom Bergeron’s leaving it all on the dance floor. After it was revealed this week that Dancing With the Stars executive producer Andrew Llinares is leaving the show after five seasons, fans turned to the former host for his reaction — and Bergeron didn’t mince words.
When one Twitter user asked Bergeron how he felt about Llinares’ exit, the former host replied, “Karma’s a bitch.”
Llinares came to Dancing With the Stars in 2018, just before Season 26 — the all-athletes season — kicked off. He was the one who decided to replace Bergeron and Erin Andrews with Tyra Banks as a host in Season 29, even though Bergeron had been with the show from the beginning of its run on ABC. The network is reportedly already looking for Llinares’ replacement. Season 31 has not yet been confirmed.
Karma’s a bitch 😉
— Tom Bergeron (@Tom_Bergeron) March 17, 2022
Llinares explained his decision to fire Bergeron and Andrews in October 2020.
“Any show like this that has been on for many, many seasons needs to continue to evolve,” he said, per ET. “So I think changing that host is all about evolution. It was all about making the show feel fresh, making it feel new and make it reach out to a new audience — as well as the audience that’s been there for years.”
Neither Bergeron nor Andrews wanted to leave the show, and many fans still prefer their hosting styles over Banks’. The professional dancers on the competition series also didn’t like the changes Llinares made to the show’s structure, like replacing the episode opening numbers with a grand entrance for the former America’s Next Top Model host.
“We’re not a music video,” one of the veteran dancers told Deadline. “We’re not the MTV music awards. We’re a ballroom dance show. The screensavers behind us are swallowing us. Like, this is not what ballroom dancing is. It’s an intimate sport. You’re missing the actual feeling from what we’re supposed to be giving the audience. You’re supposed to tap into our story and we’re supposed to tell it through movement. You lose the essence.”
It seems Dancing With the Stars could be facing some big changes yet again.
