Taylor Swift is no stranger to the Dancing With the Stars ballroom — and has even shown in the past that she can take over as host on a whim.
Former DWTS host Tom Bergeron recalled the time when Swift, 33, “brilliantly” filled in for him at the last minute during season 11 in 2010 for the show’s 200th episode after she sold 1 million copies of Speak Now.
“It was a bit because they were doing a package that … ended with Marie Osmond fainting and everything,” Begeron, 68, explained during Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” podcast episode released on Monday, October 23. (Osmond, 64, famously fainted during the live show in 2007 after performing with partner Jonathan Roberts.)
He continued: “So I turned to Taylor, I said ‘I’m gonna do something, are you OK reading prompter?’ And she said ‘Yeah,’ she was fine. … I didn’t tell anybody that I was gonna do it. So it came back to me and I just pretended to faint and Taylor took us to break brilliantly, no surprise.”
Bergeron said Swift “was really game” and “did a great job just taking a curveball like that.”
“And the picture you see, I think I posted, is me giving her a thumbs up and her laughing because she did it so well,” he said. “Because I just sprung it on her, like, seconds before we were coming back to air, it just occurred to me it would be funny if I faint too.”
Burke, 39, for her part, added that she remembers Swift being “so nice.” (Swift also appeared on the show during season 9 in 2009 and season 15 in 2012 when she performed her hit single “We Are Never Getting Back Together,” from her fourth studio album, Red.)
Bergeron hosted the reality dancing show from its premiere until season 28 and was replaced by Tyra Banks for the next season. Banks, 49, has since departed the show with Julianne Hough returning to cohost alongside Alfonso Ribeiro.
During his two-part open conversation with Burke, who was a pro on the show for 26 seasons, Bergeron also got candid about one of the biggest mistakes he made while hosting.
After Simone Biles danced with her partner, Sasha Farber, during season 24, Bergeron said he “noticed” she didn’t smile after hearing feedback from the judges. Biles, 26, famously clapped back by saying “smiling doesn’t win you gold medals.”
“I was so properly put in my place,” Bergeron said to Burke of the infamous moment.
