Ready for change? Peta Murgatroyd was completely caught off guard by the news that Dancing With the Stars hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews would not be returning for season 29.
The dancer, who has been part of the show since 2011, revealed exclusively to Us Weekly that she and other pros got on a Zoom call together a few hours after the hosts were informed of the changes.
“To be honest, I was shocked. I was sad,” Murgatroyd told Us on Wednesday, July 22, while promoting Dance and Co., her new on-demand dance channel with husband Maksim Chmerkovskiy. “I was sad that chapter of the show is done and it made me emotional on the call. I was, like, ‘Oh, my God, Tom’s not going to be there anymore? Like, he is the show.’ I’m not disregarding [Erin]. She’s been incredible and an amazing host and somebody who had been through the show before with my husband, Maks. The way that she gave insight into celebrities and she could relate to them, I think really took the show to another level. But, a fresh start! Let’s see what happens.”
ABC confirmed on July 13 that Bergeron, 65, and Andrews, 42, will not be returning. Bergeron has hosted the show since its 2004 debut and Andrews joined in 2014 after competing on the series. Tyra Banks is set to take over as host next season.
“I’m sure Tyra is going to be amazing,” the Burn the Floor alum shared with Us. “I’m excited to see what she brings to the show and an incredible name. I have met her before [when I danced] with [America’s Next Top Model winner] Nyle [DiMarco]. She came show with him, and she was lovely.”
The two-time Dancing With the Stars winner also noted that Banks, 46, will not have a cohost. “She’s a big enough name to hold the fort down by herself,” she said, before noting that if Bergeron wants to come back as her dancing partner, she’d love it.
DWTS is set to return to ABC in the fall, but due to the coronavirus, no premiere date has been announced.
“I’ve been told that it’s going to be very, very strict. We’re going to be temperature checked every day. We’re going to get COVID tests maybe every two days or something like that,” the pro told Us. “They’re expecting us to do some sort of quarantine, not go to Vegas on a trip, not do the regular things that we might normally do. I think that it’s going to be OK. I think we need this positivity to come back into America and I think we need the show. I mean, people love it and people are at home right now, kind of doing nothing. So why not bring it back, give it a go. If we don’t succeed, we don’t succeed.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
