Fans were confused, and concerned, as soon as they learned Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews were not returning to Dancing With The Starslast season. The network claimed that removing the co-hosts to replace them with Tyra Banks is a part of the show evolving, but what really happened?
Fans may never know truly what happened to Bergeron and Andrews, but DWTS alums Maks and Valentin Chmerkovskiy spoke in an interview about Dancing With The Stars and it got juicy.
Maks was on Dancing With The Stars on and off between 2006 and 2018. As a recent alumni of the show, he had a positive mindset toward the changing hosts.
“Is Tom someone that I think was a staple of the show? Yes,” he said. “But dare I say I also was a staple of the show and at some point may or may not have been thought of as an irreplaceable element, yeah…So I think times keep moving and we keep moving.”
He kept an open mindset on growth of the show throughout the entire interview. Which was interesting to hear after he said he would “love to host” in the past.
“I’m a fan of the show being on TV, and staying on, and growing,” he said. “It has to grow, it has to keep evolving and keep growing, and so in that sense…this was a great moment for all of us… And already there has been a plethora of changes in personnel, there was been a reaction but after that we kept moving.”
Valentin Chmerkovskiy began the show in season 13 and is still awaiting news of whether he will be one of the pros on the upcoming DWTS season. Since he did take part in season 29, the interviewer asked him about Tyra Banks as a host.
“As a person she’s A plus plus,” he said. “Behind the cameras [she] greets everybody with love and respect. I think also we’ve yet to know a lot of Tyra because this was also a Zoom type of season. You know all the meetings were really remote…”
Both of the brothers stayed true to their open mindset about DWTS in this interview. They believe that DWTS is making changes to help it evolve and grow as a show.
“I think the magic of the show is off camera, and it translates on camera,” Valentin said. “It’s the camaraderie that you build with the dancers with the celebs with the cast… I think Tyra did a great job, I’m excited to see the job that she does next season after the opportunity to have a real season.”
Both Chmerkovskiy brothers are in support of every decision DWTS has made, according to their interview. Although the changing of DWTS personnel is sometimes hard for fans to stomach, it’s always to evolve the show further and into something greater.
With a new season of Dancing With The Stars on the horizon, there’s a lot to look forward to.
Words by:
Corey Cesare Corey Cesare is Talent Recap's Managing Editor and featured YouTube Host. She has a love of all things pop culture and an unhealthy obsession with celebrities. Corey earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Cinema/Screen Studies from the State University of New York at Oswego in 2021. She spends her spare time shooting astro, nature, and portrait photography, and coming up with movie ideas that she hopes to make into a film someday.
