Tom Bergeron explains ‘Dancing With the Stars’ departure: ‘They screwed me’

globalnews.ca:

Dancing with the Stars (DWTS), TV personality Tom Bergeron has strong words to explain his exit: “They screwed me, I’m gonna screw them.”During a recent appearance on DWTS pro Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” podcast, Bergeron said he left the show after criticizing producers for their controversial decision to invite former White House press secretary Sean Spicer to compete.Bergeron, 68, famously hosted the competition dance show from 2005 to 2020. Despite his 15-year tenure with the production, Bergeron said his insistence that Spicer should not be allowed on DWTS did not go over well.Bergeron told Burke he envisioned DWTS as a “wonderful escape” from the regular rigmarole of U.S.

politics and the state of the country leading up to the 2020 election.“I said, ‘Guys, this is exactly what we said we wouldn’t do. Don’t go there,'” Bergeron recalled telling a group of the show’s producers over lunch.The former host said he’d already signed a new three-season contract by the time Spicer was selected in 2019.

Regardless of his protestation, Bergeron said DWTS showrunners were set on having Spicer in dance shoes.A post shared by NBC News (@nbcnews)Bergeron offered to take the 28th season of DWTS off. In return, DWTS producers offered to release him from the new contract, he said.“That’s how strongly they felt,” Bergeron explained.He said the decision to keep Spicer ignited his temper and “really pissed me off.”“At that moment, I knew this is probably my last season, because of that one betrayal,” Bergeron continued.

“Up until that point, there were people of character there.”Bergeron even released a disapproving personal statement at the time of Spicer’s casting announcement. Though he did not name Spicer