ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC aren’t the only broadcast companies announcing their upcoming schedules during upfront week in New York City. Among them is also Warner Bros, headed by Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of both the Warner Bros, TV Group and US Networks, and former president of ABC entertainment.
The latter job is what is good news for Tom Bergeron, who was fired from his job as host of Dancing with the Stars back in 2020 after a dispute with producers of the show. But Dungey isn’t letting that stop her from reconnecting with the fan-favorite host for a new series for Discovery.
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Dungey told Variety that one of her new shows will be Dancing with Sharks (working title), a fun play on her former network’s Dancing with the Stars title and even hosted by that competition series’ former emcee, Bergeron. The special, which will run during Shark Week, is described as an “unprecedented underwater dance competition between expert divers and their shark partners.”
Bergeron posted this fun Instagram this morning, cementing the deal: “See you this summer. It’ll be fintastic.”
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A post shared by Tom Bergeron (@tombergeron)
Bergeron, who won an Emmy as best Reality Show Host for Dancing with the Stars in 2012, was summarily fired from the job in 2020 when he took to social media criticizing the producers for casting Donald Trump’s former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer in the show’s 28th season.
Despite having just signed a new three-year contract, he felt so strongly that he offered to take the season off. But the producers instead offered to let him out of his contract entirely. So, in August 2019, Bergeron took to Twitter and made his feelings clear. Despite that, he hosted the 2019 season, but the writing was on the wall, and he was out the next season.
Related: Tom Bergeron Accepts Sam Rubin Award at Critics Choice Real TV Awards
Appearing on Cheryl Burke‘s “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast in 2023, Bergeron went into detail about how the events unrolled, including the pitch he made to ABC executives to refrain from casting any controversial politicians. He felt the country was about to head into a tense election year in an already chaotic time in politics, and he felt that DWTS should serve as a “wonderful escape” for people.
While they initially appeared to agree, just a short time later, the show’s producers came to him with the news that Spicer would be in the cast, and Bergeron felt betrayed, which is what led to him releasing his Twitter statement and his subsequent firing.
Next, Tom Bergeron Confirms Controversial Casting ‘Screwed’ Him on Dancing with the Stars
