The new season of Dancing with the Stars will certainly be a banner one. While many fans are beginning to get excited for the prospect of watching the new set of awesome celebrities hit the ballroom, some are, undoubtedly, still reeling from the loss of Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews as hosts. Supermodel / producer extraordinaire Tyra Banks now has DWTS hosting duties on lock (along with coming in as an executive producer), and Andrews has responded to Banks' comments about taking over for her.
Those behind the scenes at Dancing with the Stars clearly wanted to shake things up in a big way when they dismissed Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews to bring former America's Got Talent and America's Next Top Model host (and also creator of the latter series) Tyra Banks onto the show. Even though Banks is obviously excited for this new venture, she knows that long time fans of DWTS are likely to be wary of such a big change, and she's been very appreciative of what the previous hosts did, noting that she wants to continue their legacy and do the show right.
Erin Andrews recently appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, and a fan asked what she thought of Banks saying that it "will be a challenge to step into [Erin's] shoes" as she becomes the new host of DWTS, to which Andrews replied:
That's better than her saying, 'It's gonna be easy taking over for this broad!' So I guess that's great? I don't know. I think that Tom's shoes are a little harder to fill. He's the guy, he was the quarterback of the ballroom. So, that was nice of her, but he's the man. He was the man on that show.
Well, at least it seems like Erin Andrews isn't holding any grudges against Tyra Banks for walking away with her job, right? Andrews was more than willing to acknowledge that it was nice of Banks to say she realizes it'll be difficult to fill the sportscaster's DWTS shoes, but seems more intrigued about the idea of Banks also replacing Tom Bergeron.
As Andrews said, it's hard to think of Dancing with the Stars and not also think of Tom Bergeron. He was an original fixture of the show, who'd hosted for its entire run of 15 years and 28 seasons, while Andrews only came in as co-host in early 2014, starting with Season 18. Bergeron survived several co-host changes over the years, and was truly "the man" when it came to the much-loved competition, and Andrews thinks that stepping into his shoes is where Banks may see the real challenge once Season 29 begins airing.
Tyra Banks has made it known that she's a fan of Dancing with the Stars, and has definitely also been sure to give Tom Bergeron his due while talking about taking over as host. When the announcement was first made that fans would be getting a fashionable upgrade in the host for the upcoming season, Banks noted that "Tom has set a powerful stage, and I’m excited to continue the legacy," so she sees the value in what was done before, while still being ready to make the position her own, and that's really the best that viewers can hope for.
We'll get to see how the Erin Andrews and Tom Bergeron-less Dancing with the Stars fares with fans shortly, as Season 29 is set to debut on ABC, September 14 at 8 p.m. EST. For more one what to watch in the coming weeks, check out our guide to fall TV!
