The OG “Dancing with the Stars” host Tom Bergeron is back!
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 12: Tom Bergeron attends an Evening From The Heart Los Angeles Gala at Sunset Room Hollywood on September 12, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images)
Bergeron will return to the ballroom as a guest judge for the show’s 20th anniversary on November 11, along with other pro dancers who were a part of the series over the past two decades.
“I’m anticipating that it’s going to be a wonderfully emotional, nostalgic night,” he told TV insider. “It’s so much fun to watch my friends do the work. I don’t have to throw to commercials. I don’t have to worry about the timing.”
He continued, “I’ll be respectful and sensitive of what [co-host] Alfonso [Ribeiro] has to deal with, ’cause I’ve been there. But I’m just looking forward to being in an environment surrounded by people I really care about on live television, where there’s no second take. It’s my happy place.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 15: (L-R) Alfonso Ribeiro and Tom Bergeron attend the 2024 Critics Choice Real TV Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on June 15, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
The veteran host had been with the show since its debut in 2005, but abruptly ended his time on the show in 2020, along with co-host Erin Andrews.
He wrote on X at the time, “Just informed @DancingABC will be continuing without me. It’s been an incredible 15 year run and the most unexpected gift of my career. I’m grateful for that and for the lifelong friendships made. That said, now what am I supposed to do with all of these glitter masks?”
Over the past few years, Bergeron has opened up about why he decided to leave the show, telling the late Bob Saget his final season “wasn’t a pleasant” one.
LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 22: TV hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Adrews attend ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” Season 23 Finale at The Grove on November 22, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
“In all candor, the show that I left was not the show that I loved,” he said on the comedian’s podcast in 2021, per People. “So at the end of the season that turned out to be my last season, I kind of knew. I took everything out of my dressing room that I really wanted.”
He also spoke with former “DWTS” pro Cheryl Burke (who guest judged the recent Halloween week) about his doubts when it came to casting political figures on the show.
GOOD MORNING AMERICA – Tom Bergeron presents the new “Dancing With the Stars” contestants on “Good Morning America,” 8/30/16, airing on the Walt Disney Television Network. (Photo by Lou Rocco/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)TOM BERGERON
It was the casting of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer that was the final straw for him, as he said that decision is “exactly what we said we wouldn’t do.”
“This is, you know, not the right time. Play to our strengths, be the show that gives people a break from all this bulls—,” he told Burke on her podcast in 2023.
