Why did Tom Bergeron's tenure as host of Dancing with the Stars end in 2020? Details explored

Dancing with the Stars season 34 saw the return of its original host, Tom Bergeron, for the 20th Birthday Party celebration episode on Tuesday, November 11, 2025.

The 70-year-old television personality hosted the show from its premiere in 2005 and went on to co-host for 28 seasons over 15 years. He was then released by the ABC show in 2020, reportedly due to disagreements over creative decisions and the direction of the show.

Tom received nine Emmy Award nominations for his work as a co-host of Dancing with the Stars and won the award in 2012. 

After he was shockingly fired from the show, along with co-host Erin Andrews, in June 2020, Bergeron addressed the issue on Bob Saget's podcast in 2021. He said:

"In all candor, the show that I left was not the show that I loved. 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]. It wasn't a pleasant [experience].

Tom Bergeron was fired from Dancing with the Stars to embark on a "new creative direction"

ABC had announced ahead of season 29 of Dancing with the Stars that both Bergeron and Andrews would be leaving the show in a joint statement made by BBC Studios and ABC Network in July 2020, which read:

"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."

Following the announcement, Bergeron confirmed the news 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."

Later, then–executive Andrew Llinares explained in October 2020, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, that the decision to replace the hosts was part of the show’s effort to “evolve” and “stay fresh” after nearly two decades on air.

Llinares said that long-running series like Dancing with the Stars must continually reinvent themselves to attract new audiences while retaining longtime fans. emphasizing that the change was intended to “make the show feel new and exciting.” He added:

"Any show like this that has been on for many, many seasons needs to continue to evolve. So I think changing that host is all about evolution. It was all about making the show 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."

He further added that they wanted to make the show feel relevant while holding on to the heart of the show.

A representative for Bergeron later confirmed in a statement to ET, sharing,

"ABC opted not to pick up Tom's option. In the fine tradition of Hollywood cliches, they're 'going in a different direction.'"

Before Tom Bergeron’s exit from Dancing with the Stars, tensions had already begun to surface over the show’s decision to cast Sean Spicer, former White House Press Secretary under President Donald Trump, in season 28.

Bergeron publicly expressed his discomfort with the choice, explaining that he had previously met with the show’s producers to urge them to exclude politics from the ballroom, as he explained in a since-deleted post on X:

"Chief among them was my hope that DWTS, in its return following an unprecedented year-hiatus, would be a joyful respite from our exhausting political climate and free of inevitably decisive booking from ANY political affiliations,” adding that he “left that lunch convinced we were in agreement.”

“Subsequently (and rather obviously), a decision was made to, as we often say in Hollywood, ‘go in a different direction,'”

In a conversation with former Dancing with the Stars pro Cheryl Burke on her Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast in 2023, he further shared about the tensions between him and producers:

"I wrote the statement that I wrote, that did not name anybody, that did not name a political party. It merely said, ‘I was told certain things when I was asked my opinion, they agreed, and now they've thrown a curveball.’ I even went so far as to say it's their right to do that. They're the producers of the show, if that's what they want to do, they are entitled to do that."

He further continued,

"They had screwed me. I'm gonna screw them. 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."

Bergeron bluntly replied that he would never return to Dancing with the Stars because it's no longer the same show as it used to be in its earlier days.

Stay tuned for more updates.