Beneath the ocean.
Former “Dancing With the Stars” host Tom Bergeron, 70, hosts a Shark Week particular known as “Dancing With Sharks.”
“I had two reactions,” Bergeron, 70, solely informed The Submit.
“The first one was, ‘What are you smoking?’ And the second one was ‘Where do I sign?’ It was just too much fun an idea to pass up. Plus, as an added incentive, they gave me a little trip to the Bahamas.”
He quipped, “Some of these sharks danced better than some of the humans in the 15 years that I watched couples [on ‘Dancing With the Stars’]. Sharks don’t have stage fright.”
Airing Sunday, July 20 (8 p.m. ET on Discovery), “Dancing With Sharks” follows 5 shark specialists as they dance underwater, surrounded by sharks, as Bergeron and a panel of judges (together with Allison Holker and comic Pete Holmes) provide commentary.
The Emmy-winning TV host, who additionally helmed “Hollywood Squares” from 1998 to 2004 and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” from 2001 to 2015, hosted “Dancing With the Stars” from 2005 till he was fired from the ABC present in 2020.
He was later changed by Tyra Banks, who hosted simply three seasons earlier than her exit.
“I miss the people,” Bergeron stated, however he defined that his contract would have taken him to Season 30, “at which point, I was going to leave on my own timing. So, I only missed two seasons by being fired.”
He added, “Those two seasons, which would have been my final two, all occurred during the pandemic. And I would have hated that, because everything that I loved about the show — the camaraderie, throwing a party for everybody mid-season, hanging out together. You couldn’t do any of that.”
Wanting again on his firing, Bergeron stated, “In hindsight, they kind of did me a favor.”
He added, “I was able to go out doing the show the way I always did the show. And on that last show. Len [Goodman] and Bruno [Tonioli], Carrie Ann [Inaba] and I had a great time. I have great memories of wrapping it up that way.”
Bergeron recalled that he lately had lunch with unique “Dancing with the Stars” showrunner Conrad Inexperienced, who’s again in that function and is “the reason the show has righted itself.”
On whether or not he’d ever return, he informed The Submit: “At lunch with Conrad, I offered a way that I’d feel comfortable going back for one night. I said, ‘I’m not even going to charge you a lot of money. You pay me scale, and then you make a generous contribution to the Motion Picture and Television Fund, and I’ll be there.’”
“So we’ll see. The mirrorball is in their court,” he continued.
For now, Bergeron has a newfound curiosity in sharks.
“Don’t tell my wife, but now I’m intrigued about at least getting in one of the cages and going underwater and getting up close [with sharks],” he teased.
“The people I’ve met doing this show have really allayed some of my concerns about doing something like that.”
Nevertheless, he joked, “It might result in a divorce.”