Why did Tom Bergeron leave “DWTS”? Here’s why he felt ‘screwed’ after his original departure

Allison DeGrusheTue, September 15, 2026 at 4:03 PM UTC

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Tom Bergeron on ‘Dancing With the Stars’Credit: Disney/Eric McCandlessKey Points -

Tom Bergeron hosted Dancing with the Stars for its first 28 seasons, from 2005 to 2019.

He left the series in 2020 and later said tensions behind the scenes had made his final season an unpleasant experience.

In November 2025, Bergeron returned to the ballroom as a guest judge for the show’s 20th-anniversary celebration.

Tom Bergeron‘s departure from Dancing With the Stars remains one of the show’s most surprising shake-ups. The beloved host led the ABC competition series from its first season in 2005 through 2019, becoming a familiar face for fans across 28 seasons.

Bergeron left the series in July 2020, but five years later, he finally returned to the ballroom as a guest judge for DWTS’ 20th-anniversary celebration on Nov. 11, 2025. The appearance marked his first time back on the show since his abrupt exit.

Ahead of the reunion, Bergeron told TV Insider that he expected it to be a “wonderfully emotionally, nostalgic night,” calling live television his “happy place.”

Now, as DWTS begins its 35th season, with Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough still at the helm, Entertainment Weekly looks back at Bergeron’s exit from the series, why he left, and whether it was truly his decision.

Why did Tom Bergeron leave DWTS?

Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews on ‘Dancing With the Stars’Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

On July 13, 2020, ABC and BBC Studios announced that Bergeron and his cohost, Erin Andrews, would not be returning for DWTS season 29.

In a joint statement, the network and producers said, “Tom Bergeron will forever be part of the Dancing with the Stars family. As we embark on a new creative direction, he departs the show with our sincerest thanks and gratitude for his trademark wit and charm that helped make this show a success.”

When news broke of his firing, Bergeron wrote on social media, “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?”

Many longtime DWTS fans were unhappy with the decision to replace Bergeron and Andrews with Tyra Banks, but then-executive producer Andrew Llinares defended the move. “Any show like this that has been on for many, many seasons needs to continue to evolve,” Llinares said at ABC’s fall press day in September 2020, per Entertainment Tonight. “So I think changing that host is all about evolution.”

He added that the goal was to make DWTS “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.”

What has Tom Bergeron said about his DWTS departure?

Tom Bergeron, Lindsay Arnold, and DeMarcus Ware on ‘Dancing With the Stars’Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

The next year, Bergeron opened up about what really happened behind the scenes of his departure, admitting that his final season hosting DWTS “wasn’t a pleasant [experience].”

“In all candor, the show that I left was not the show that I loved,” he said on the Here For You podcast in September 2021. “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. ... It was kind of obvious that we were kind of butting heads [behind-the-scenes].”

He added that he wasn’t too shocked by the decision, saying, “I wasn’t surprised that that was my last season, so there was no blue period. Actually, I think Erin and I had more fun being fired than virtually anybody.”

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In October 2023, Bergeron shared the turning point that made him believe his time on the show was coming to an end. During an appearance on former DWTS pro Cheryl Burke’s Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast, he revealed that tensions spiked when producers decided to cast former White House press secretary Sean Spicer for season 28, which ran from September to November 2019.

Tom Bergeron, John Schneider, and Emma Slater on ‘Dancing With the Stars’Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

Heading into an election year, Bergeron urged the DWTS team to keep politics out of the ballroom. “I said, ‘Guys, this is exactly what we said we wouldn’t do. Don’t go there. This is, you know, not the right time, play to our strengths, be the show that gives people a break from all this bulls---,’” Bergeron recalled.

After a producer and the showrunner insisted on casting Spicer, Bergeron offered to “take the season off.” They countered by offering to release Bergeron from his contract entirely. “That’s how strongly they felt,” Bergeron said, adding that it “really pissed me off.”

Bergeron was “furious,” and he vented his frustration publicly. Just hours after the season 28 cast reveal, he issued a statement on social media criticizing the show for abandoning its role as a “joyful respite from our exhausting political climate.”

The post caught ABC executives off guard, and that was intentional. Bergeron told Burke he didn’t give them a heads-up because “they didn’t deserve to know.”

“They had screwed me. I’m gonna screw them,” he explained. “But I wanted the viewers to know this was a step too far to me. This was a step too far on the cusp of an election year. And again — had it been a Democrat, same statement.”

The casting dispute and subsequent backlash over Spicer’s casting helped Bergeron realize that his time on DWTS was quickly coming to an end. “At that moment, I knew this is probably my last season, because of that one betrayal,” he said. “Up until that point, there were people of character there.”

Why did Tom Bergeron decide to return to DWTS?

Tom Bergeron and Cloris Leachman on ‘Dancing With the Stars’Credit: ABC/KELSEY McNEAL

Bergeron previously told Burke he would “never” return to DWTS, but he ultimately changed his mind.

On Nov. 5, 2025, Good Morning Americaannouncedthat Bergeron would return as a guest judge for the show’s 20th birthday party episode on Nov. 11, marking his first appearance in the ballroom since his 2020 departure.

Bergeron credited Conrad Green, the original and currentshowrunner, with helping bring him back to DWTS. “Conrad has really done a lovely job of reaching out to me and offering an olive leaf,” he told TV Insider, “and we’re friends, and so, in the past 12 months, when this idea popped into my head, [I thought] ‘Yeah, I think I’ll be very comfortable spending a lot more than a minute there.’”

Where can I watch DWTS?

Dancing with the Stars airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+. New episodes are available to stream the following day on Hulu or Disney+.

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