Tom Bergeron had not completely closed the door on “Dancing With the Stars.” In 2020, the beloved TV host exited the ABC celebrity ballroom show after 28 seasons. In multiple interviews, he made it clear that he had no interest in a return to the show—ever.
In December 2020, he told TV Insider, “When people say, ‘I’m not gonna watch until you’re back,’ I say, ‘Well, there’s really no ‘until’ here.’ This train has left the station.”
Two replacement hosts and five years later, Bergeron, 70, hinted at a potential return to DWTS under the right circumstances.
When Bergeron first left “Dancing With the Stars,” he was replaced by Tyra Banks as the show’s host. Banks left after three seasons and was replaced by Alfonso Ribeiro as the main host, with Julianne Hough as his co-host in the skybox.
In an August 2025 interview with TV Insider, Bergeron admitted that he would consider returning to the ballroom for a cameo now that the original showrunner is back.
“Conrad Green, who’s the showrunner now, was my first showrunner. When the show hit its 500th episode, he [asked], ‘Would you come and sit in the audience?’ And I said, ‘No, I’d get too fidgety.’” Bergeron said. “But we had lunch six weeks ago, and I presented to him a scenario in which I would come back for one night.”
“I’m going full Ringo: peace and love,” Bergeron added. “I have great fondness for the impact that DWTS had on my career and the friendships that resulted.”
Tom Bergeron Always Planned to Leave DWTS After Season 30
The return of Green is key, as Bergeron previously said he didn’t always agree with the interim producer, Andrew Llinare’s, decisions on the show. In September 2021, Bergeron appeared on Bob Saget’s “Here For You” podcast and admitted he wasn’t happy on the show by the time he left.
“In all candor, the show that I left was not the show that I loved,” he said on the podcast. “At the end of the season that turned out to be my last season, I kind of knew. So, I took everything out of my dressing room that I really wanted. I wasn’t surprised that was my last season, so there was no blue period.
He added that he still looked back on his many years on the show with “great fondness.”
In an October 2023 interview on Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies, & Spray Tans” podcast, Bergeron revealed he had planned to only host two more seasons of DWTS before he was let go. “My contract went to season 30, at which point I was going to leave anyway,” he said.
He reiterated that statement in the new interview. “The truth of it is, my plan was to leave after Season 30,” he told TV Insider. “As circumstances played out, I left two seasons before. But those seasons were during COVID, so what would’ve been my last two—I would’ve hated them. Everything I loved about the show, the camaraderie, hanging out—none of that would’ve been available. I’m glad it didn’t end that way. And not surprisingly, the showrunner that I locked horns with didn’t last much longer anyway.”
“Dancing With the Stars” celebrates 20 years on the air in 2025. The show returns for Season 34 on Sept. 16 on ABC.
