Tom Bergeron to Return to the Dancing with the Stars Ballroom 5 Years After His Firing

Tom Bergeron is returning to the ballroom.

On Tuesday, Nov. 11, the longtime host of Dancing with the Stars will be back in the ballroom for the first time since he was let go in 2020.

Bergeron, 70, will be a guest judge on the upcoming episode — which will mark the show’s 20th anniversary — alongside Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough. He told TV Insider that it’s “going to be great” to be back in his old stomping grounds.

“I’m anticipating that it’s going to be a wonderfully emotional, nostalgic night,” he said. “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.”

“I’ll be respectful and sensitive of what [co-host] Alfonso [Ribeiro] has to deal with, ’cause I’ve been there,” Bergeron continued. “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.”

Bergeron hosted Dancing with the Stars for 28 seasons, dating back to its premiere in 2005. When the news broke of his exit, he wrote in a post on X: “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.”

The following year, Bergeron shared more about what led to his departure from the show, as he said his final season as host “wasn’t a pleasant” one.

“In all candor, the show that I left was not the show that I loved,” he told the late Bob Saget on a podcast in 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.”

Bergeron “wasn’t surprised” that season 28 was his last, as he said it was “kind of obvious that we were kind of butting heads.” But regardless, he said he looks back on his time hosting “with really great fondness for the vast majority of it.”

More recently, Bergeron revealed how the casting of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer was the final straw in his tenure as host.

He had already expressed his doubts about casting any politician on the 2019 season, given the approaching 2020 presidential election, and when he was told Spicer had been cast, he said that was “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 recalled on Cheryl Burke‘s podcast in 2023.

He was then told by the showrunner and producer that they could let him out of his contract, which he said “really pissed me off.”

“So at that moment, I knew, this is probably my last season, because of that one betrayal. Up until that point, there were people of character there.”

Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+

Tom Bergeron is returning to the ballroom.

On Tuesday, Nov. 11, the longtime host of Dancing with the Stars will be back in the ballroom for the first time since he was let go in 2020.

Bergeron, 70, will be a guest judge on the upcoming episode — which will mark the show’s 20th anniversary — alongside Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough. He told TV Insider that it’s “going to be great” to be back in his old stomping grounds.

“I’m anticipating that it’s going to be a wonderfully emotional, nostalgic night,” he said. “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.”

“I’ll be respectful and sensitive of what [co-host] Alfonso [Ribeiro] has to deal with, ’cause I’ve been there,” Bergeron continued. “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.”

Bergeron hosted Dancing with the Stars for 28 seasons, dating back to its premiere in 2005. When the news broke of his exit, he wrote in a post on X: “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.”

The following year, Bergeron shared more about what led to his departure from the show, as he said his final season as host “wasn’t a pleasant” one.

“In all candor, the show that I left was not the show that I loved,” he told the late Bob Saget on a podcast in 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.”

Bergeron “wasn’t surprised” that season 28 was his last, as he said it was “kind of obvious that we were kind of butting heads.” But regardless, he said he looks back on his time hosting “with really great fondness for the vast majority of it.”

More recently, Bergeron revealed how the casting of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer was the final straw in his tenure as host.

He had already expressed his doubts about casting any politician on the 2019 season, given the approaching 2020 presidential election, and when he was told Spicer had been cast, he said that was “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 recalled on Cheryl Burke‘s podcast in 2023.

He was then told by the showrunner and producer that they could let him out of his contract, which he said “really pissed me off.”

“So at that moment, I knew, this is probably my last season, because of that one betrayal. Up until that point, there were people of character there.”

Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+