Tom Bergeron Reveals Who Was Originally Eyed as His ‘DWTS’ Host Replacement

Dancing With the Stars almost looked a lot different after Tom Bergeron‘s exit.

Bergeron was fired from his longtime role as the host of the ABC competition series in 2020 after disagreeing with the show’s team over casting and creative decisions. Tyra Banks took over as the show’s new host later that year. She led the show until 2023, and Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough have hosted the series since then.

According to Bergeron, another big name was considered to replace him on the show: none other than DWTS Season 27 winner Bobby Bones. “Before they went to Tyra Banks to replace me, they went to you, right?” he asked Bones on the Thursday, March 12, episode of The BobbyCast podcast.

Bones confirmed Bergeron’s comments, stating, “Yes. But in full transparency, I was told you were leaving.” Bergeron joked, “I had to. They fired me!”

Bones noted that the show’s producers never disclosed the circumstances of Bergeron’s DWTS exit. “That was not the conversation that they had with me. It was, ‘Hey, Tom is leaving at the end of this season. Would you want to come and host Dancing with the Stars?’ And I said, ‘I think that would be great,'” he shared. “But again, I respected you so much. I was like, ‘Hey, can I talk to Tom and get advice on this decision?’ And they were like, ‘Contractually, we don’t think you should do that.'”

Bergeron quipped, “They are such weasels sometimes, aren’t they? Honest to God, you know?”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tom Bergeron (@tombergeron)

Bones said he found out he lost the role to Banks via social media. “I see a tweet come through, [saying,] ‘Tyra Banks has just signed on as host.’ And I went, ‘What?'” he told Bergeron. “We walked through all of that and then out of nowhere — I never had it, so they didn’t take it from me, but every indication was, I was going to be that guy.”

Related

‘Hollywood Squares’ Season 2: Former Host Tom Bergeron Returns for Upcoming Episode

Bergeron stated that the lack of transparency and communication “underscores the kind of people and the character of the people I was dealing with at the time,” adding, “They fired me and said to you, ‘Oh, contractually, you really shouldn’t talk to Tom about this,’ because that would have blown their cover.”

On the podcast, Bergeron also took the opportunity to apologize to Bones for criticizing his DWTS win. Bones surprised viewers by taking home the Season 27 mirrorball trophy with Sharna Burgess, despite earning lower scores than his competitors.

In November 2025, Bergeron told Parade that Bones’ win was the most “surprising” result. Bones reacted to the interview by sending back his mirrorball trophy.

“I felt terrible that the way I phrased my honest surprise at your win — I think the question to me was, ‘What’s the most shocking elimination that you remember?'” Bergeron said on the podcast. “And I honestly, I’m at the point where I hide my own Easter eggs, so I couldn’t remember a shocking elimination. And I wish I had said, ‘Well, this wasn’t a shock, but it was a surprise, when Bobby Bones won.’… The fact that it hurt your feelings and that you sent your trophy back, I felt terrible about that.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tom Bergeron (@tombergeron)

Bones, for his part, said he was “hurt” that Bergeron considered his win so shocking that the show had to change its voting rules. (Changes were made to the voting system after Bones’ win to better balance the fan and judges’ votes.)

“As I was handing you and Sharna charge of the trophy, I said, ‘You’re the people’s champion.’ And that was true. And it was true because, understandably, you were able to get your radio audience to vote en masse for you,” Bergeron stated. “I knew, though, the producer part of my brain knew, that this will probably cause the show and the real producers to give the judges a bit more of the sway. So, you know, in all candor, you won according to the rules of the show at the time, but I knew that something would change, and it did.”