BOBBYCAST - Tom Bergeron on Repairing His Friendship with Bobby & His DWTS Exit

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: The Bobby Bones Show (BOBBYCAST)
Episode: Tom Bergeron on Repairing His Friendship with Bobby & His DWTS Exit
Date: March 17, 2026
Host: Bobby Bones
Guest: Tom Bergeron

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Episode Overview

This episode features a long-awaited reunion between Bobby Bones and Tom Bergeron, best known for hosting "Dancing with the Stars" (DWTS). The two candidly address the public fallout following Bergeron’s remark about Bobby’s surprising DWTS win—a moment that strained their friendship. The episode weaves through their reconciliation, behind-the-scenes television stories, insights into Hollywood’s unpredictability, and reflections on the evolution of TV hosting, with plenty of laughs and humility.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Repairing the Friendship: Addressing “The Clip”

• Background: Tom once named Bobby as the most surprising DWTS winner, unintentionally hurting Bobby's feelings. This led Bobby, on pain medication post-surgery, to return his Mirrorball trophy—a story revisited with humor and honesty.
• Quotes & Memorable Moments:
  • “In my mind, the title for this one is Friendship Cleanup on aisle two.” – Tom Bergeron [03:23]
  • “I love Tom Bergeron. So that's never changed.” – Bobby Bones [04:30]
  • “The fact that it hurt your feelings and that you sent your trophy back, I felt terrible about that.” – Tom Bergeron [03:37]
• Resolution: Both agree the remarks were misunderstood, blame painkillers and context, and profess ongoing respect and admiration.
  • “I never stopped loving Tom Bergeron.” – Bobby Bones [02:27]

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2. DWTS Rule Changes & Impact of “Lightning in a Bottle”

• Tom’s View: Bobby’s win via mass radio audience voting prompted producers to give judges more power.
  • “You won according to the rules of the show at the time. But I knew that something would change, and it did.” – Tom Bergeron [06:44]
• Bobby’s View: Proud to have caused a rule change but maintains it was an outlier scenario.
  • “I do take pride in making them change the rules.” – Bobby Bones [06:44]
  • Discusses the power of listener loyalty in audio broadcasting.
• Industry Insight: Both note the evolving role of social media vs. dedicated audio/podcast audiences.
  • “There is such a relationship that somebody has in long-form audio medium...will follow them places.” – Bobby Bones [07:11]

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3. DWTS Host Transition and Transparency

• How Bobby Was Approached to Host DWTS:
  • After Tom was fired, network execs approached Bobby without disclosing Tom’s situation.
    • “Before they went to Tyra Banks to replace me, they went to you, right?” – Tom Bergeron [02:12, 08:48]
    • “I was told you were leaving...They fired me.” – Tom Bergeron & Bobby Bones [02:23, 09:12]
• Host Handover Industry Politics:
  • Both reflect on the lack of transparency, with Bobby wishing he could have called Tom for advice—but was discouraged contractually.
  • Tom recounts the “weaselly” behavior of executives and how he would have advised Bobby if asked.

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4. Hollywood Realities: The Hype vs. The Truth

• The “Immediate Yes” Culture:
  • Bobby details leaving meetings convinced he’d landed huge roles, only for crickets to follow.
    • “I was spending my millions already, Tom. They had convinced me that… and I never heard back about anything ever.” – Bobby Bones [15:22]
  • Tom shares that skepticism is healthy in Hollywood where “actors aren't just on screen, a lot are in offices.”
    • “Right? Is bullshit common in Hollywood?” – Tom Bergeron [14:04]

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5. DWTS Origins & Hosting Approach

• How Tom Got the Gig:
  • Direct offer due to his work on AFV; tension ensued between networks.
    • “Let me fly blind here...respond in what I'm feeling in the moment. Let's get rid of the scripted jokes.” – Tom Bergeron [18:19]
• Creative Freedom:
  • Tom’s improvisational approach is emphasized as key to his success after Season 1.

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6. Other TV Opportunities & Career Pivots

• Bobby’s TV Offers After DWTS:
  • Surge of offers post-win, showing the “power of audience connection.”
• Tom’s “Near Misses”:
  • Nearly replaced Charlie Gibson on “Good Morning America,” making light of awkward chemistry with Lisa McCree.
    • “If you were close enough to your television set, you could feel the wind chill come off the speaker.” – Tom Bergeron [49:37]

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7. Behind the Scenes of Masked Singer

• Secret Identity Protocol:
  • Tom describes the elaborate disguises and process: visor, hoodie, gloves, and secrecy—even with familiar crew.
    • “You have to sing live…to be in a taco shell trying to dance like Elvis Presley is not the easiest thing in the world, let me tell you.” – Tom Bergeron [29:10]

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8. Hollywood Squares, AFV & Working With Celebrities

• Hollywood Squares:
  • Six-year run with Whoopi Goldberg and Henry Winkler.
    • “If you look in the dictionary for Mensch, his [Henry Winkler’s] picture will be next to it.” – Tom Bergeron [34:52]
• America’s Funniest Videos:
  • Tom recounts taking over from Bob Saget and adopting a unique hosting style.

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9. Chemistry With Co-Hosts & Pros

• Best Co-Hosts:
  • Erin Andrews cited for her “seamless” chemistry and sharp wit.
    • “Erin and I just…were pretty tight going into Dancing with the Stars.” – Tom Bergeron [39:40]
• Favorite Pros:
  • Cheryl Burke, Sharna Burgess, and Val Chmerkovskiy.

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10. Candid Reflections on Showbiz and Retirement

• On Contestants Regretting DWTS:
  • Bobby cites peer pressure and underestimating the work as common reasons.
• On Retirement:
  • Tom describes himself as “semi-retired,” voice acting, and open to new surprises.
    • “I don't have a fire in my gut to host anything anymore. But…I've learned my initial reaction isn't always to be trusted.” – Tom Bergeron [48:28]

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Notable Quotes & Fun Moments

• On Hollywood Sincerity:

  • “Actors aren't just on screen. A lot of them are in offices.” – Tom Bergeron [14:13]

• On Winning DWTS:

  • “You could have walked out, taken a leak on the stage and walked off and you would have won based on the votes that you had.” – Bobby Bones recalling execs’ feedback [26:58]

• On Their Misunderstanding:

  • “I could have gone on, made a sandwich…I could have gone and hit a drive through before I finally announced the winner.” – Tom Bergeron on the show’s dramatic pause [43:09]

• On Life After TV:

  • “Sometimes those mistakes can make us even more appealing to our listeners or viewers.” – Tom Bergeron [41:10]

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• Friendship Fallout and Reconciliation – [03:23]–[04:30]
• DWTS Rule Changes & Audience Power – [06:44]–[08:13]
• DWTS Host Transition Explored – [08:48]–[11:27]
• Hollywood Promises and Letdowns – [13:32]–[15:44]
• Masked Singer Experience – [27:53]–[31:09]
• Chemistry with Co-Hosts & Pros – [39:22]–[44:26]
• Reflections on Contestant Attitudes – [44:26]–[47:08]
• Tom’s Thoughts on Retirement – [48:13]–[49:33]
• Bobby Celebrates Tom and Parting Words – [50:46]–[51:29]

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Tone & Atmosphere

The conversation is warm, honest, and playful, with both Bobby and Tom poking fun at themselves and demystifying the entertainment industry. Listeners are treated to thoughtful retrospection and industry anecdotes full of wit and character, making the episode both insightful for fans and illuminating for those curious about TV’s inner workings.

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Best For:
Fans of Dancing with the Stars, aspiring hosts, and anyone interested in how the messy, human side of showbiz works.
Skip if: You’re looking for detailed DWTS behind-the-scenes gossip—this is more about relationships, integrity, and industry reality than backstage drama.

Transcript

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Podcast Trailer Narrator]

In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband Mike was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately the mask came off.

[Bobby Bones]

You're supposed to be safe.

[Nancy Glass]

That's your home.

[Bobby Bones]

That's your husband.

[Podcast Trailer Narrator]

Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Nancy Glass]

I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt season two podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random crime. The perpetrator was sentenced to 99 years until a confession changed everything. Everything.

[Tom Bergeron]

I was a monster.

[Nancy Glass]

Listen to Burden of guilt season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tom Bergeron]

Come check this.

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[Tom Bergeron]

Before they went to Tyra Banks to replace me, they went to you, right?

[Bobby Bones]

Yes, but. But in full transparency. I was told you were leaving.

[Tom Bergeron]

I had to. They fired me.

[Bobby Bones]

All right, today on the Bobbycast, I'm talking to Tom Bergeron, who was the longtime host of Dancing with the Stars. We have a bit of a history. As I was on Dancing with the Stars, I won the show. It was cool. I love Tom Bergeron. And there was a clip of him in an interview, and the interviewer asked him, hey, who's the most surprising elimination? And he said, I don't have that, but I'll tell you the person that I was surprised won and Then he mentioned me, and then I got all hurt. I got my feelings hurt. Sent the mirrorball trophy back. It was a whole thing. But I never stopped loving Tom Bergeron. And this is the first time that we had spoken since then. We waited and had the conversation right here for you guys. He's a two time Emmy winner again, longtime host of Dancing with the Stars, America's Funniest Videos. You know, he did radio way back in the day, and then he's that guy now on television. So I do love him. Even if he went Bobby Bones. Here he is, the great Tom Bergeron. Want to lead with the first question? Why do you hate me?

[Tom Bergeron]

Now, here's the thing. I don't know if you give. I don't know if you give titles to these podcasts, but in my mind, the title for this one is Friendship Cleanup on aisle two.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, I love you. I never have stopped loving you.

[Tom Bergeron]

You know, and I feel the same about you. And I felt terrible that the way I phrased my honest surprise at your win, I think the question to me was, what's the most shocking elimination that you remember? And I honestly, I'm at the point where I hide my own Easter egg. So I couldn't remember a shocking elimination. And I wish I had said, well, this wasn't a shock, but it was a surprise when Bobby Bones won. And I have to show you because I rewatched that moment. This is your face. I wasn't the only one surprised, Bobby. So, you know, but the fact that it hurt your feelings and that you sent your trophy back, I felt terrible about that.

[Bobby Bones]

I was right out of a surgery. And what's funny is I've now talked about this because so many people have called and ask me about it. But I've said in every interview, I've said, I love Tom Bergeron. So that's never changed. But I had ankle surgery the day before, and I really think I was messed up on pain medicine. I think that was a big factor in everything that I did and how I reacted. And I watched it back again right before the interview to see how it felt. And I think what hurt was, I wasn't even asked about. And maybe just in your head, it was such a shock you thought the rules needed to be changed because I won the show.

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, I'll tell you, in all honesty, I knew in the moment that as I think I even said to you, because I watched it again and I said as I was handing you in Charlotte the trophy, I said, you're the people's champion. And that was true. And it was true because understandably, you were able to get your radio audience to vote en masse for you. I knew, though the producer part of my brain knew that this will probably cause the show and the. The real producers to give the judges a bit more of the sway. So, you know, in all candor, you. You won according to the rules of the show at the time. But I knew that something would change, and it did.

[Bobby Bones]

And my argument with the rules changing was there just wasn't another example really, pre or post, of my lightning in a bottle scenario. So I didn't feel like it really demanded a rule change because it hadn't happened a couple or three times out of five. It was such a weird and wild season and I knew that. And I. And I really, I gave it everything it had. Like I was working full time, was training longer hours than anybody else because I was so far behind. But I thought they shouldn't change the rules because this happens once. It's such an outlier. And what they did the next season was is they allow the judges to have a save. And I thought that was good anyway. I didn't mind that anyway. But I do take pride in making them change the rules.

[Tom Bergeron]

As you should. As you should. Yeah, you were the precedent. I mean, they didn't have outliers, but, you know, they were responding to, again, in all candor, a significant response from a certain section of the audience and felt that they need to give the judges a little bit more oomph in the total process. So that's how it played out.

[Bobby Bones]

I felt it was a good look for a couple of things. I thought it was a good look for anybody in the audio medium. So all my podcast listeners, all my radio listeners that they're that dedicated to long form content, right? To anybody that speaks in long form content, there's a relationship. And it's frankly how this podcast ended up on Netflix, right? We had such a following that Netflix is like, we want that podcast. And so there is such a. Because I didn't have as many Instagram followers as a bunch of the people on the show. You know, there was Alexis Wren who had millions because that was her thing. There was a few people that had more social media, but social media doesn't have the connection of long form audio. And I thought it was a testament, and I think now we're seeing that with podcasts to the relationship that somebody has in long form audio medium and how they feel, they know them and we'll follow them places will buy products that they are honest about. I thought it was a good look for that.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. And this was, if my chronological memory is accurate, this was what, 2018 that you won?

[Bobby Bones]

That sounds about right. 2018.

[Tom Bergeron]

That's about right. So we've come a long way in terms of what social media is. And you can look at the show. I just did the 20th anniversary show with them in November. And. And, you know, most of the kind of bookings they're doing now, not all of them, but a good number of them are influencers, you know, through social media. That's taken on a weight that it didn't have even as recently as 2018.

[Bobby Bones]

It was a fun year. And what it also helped me do was I had like, a ton of television offers because people were like, we didn't know people cared.

[Tom Bergeron]

Let's address that, because I think we both, in separate appearances on Cheryl Burke's former podcast, talked about this before they went to Tyra Banks to replace me. They went to you, right?

[Bobby Bones]

Yes, but in full transparency. I was told you were leaving. It wasn't.

[Tom Bergeron]

I had to. They fired me.

[Bobby Bones]

Well, but that was not the conversation that they had with me. It was, hey, Tom is leaving at the end of this season. Would you want to come and host Dancing with Stars? And I said, I think that would be great. But again, I respected you so much. I was like, hey, can I talk to Tom and get advice on this decision? And they were like, contractually, we don't think you should do that.

[Tom Bergeron]

They are such weasels sometimes, aren't they? Honest to God. You know?

[Bobby Bones]

And then it didn't work out. And I found out I was on a driving range one day and I had multiple conversations. I would deep, like, level five conversations. And I thought it was getting pretty close. And then I see a tweet come through. Tyra Banks has just signed on as. And I went, what?

[Tom Bergeron]

I know.

[Bobby Bones]

We walked through all of that, and then out of nowhere, I never had it. So they didn't take it from me. But every indication was I was going to be that guy. But it's fleeting. That industry is so fleeting.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. And it was interesting. I mean, the tweet I was proudest of when I heard that Tyra Banks was going to get the job. Of course, Tom Berger on Tyra Banks. I tweeted, I guess I'm not getting back my monogram towels. But that just sort of underscores the kind of people and the character of the people I was dealing with at the time that they fired me. And Said to you, oh, contractually, you really should. Shouldn't talk to Tom about this because that would have blown their cover.

[Bobby Bones]

Now, looking back, I see that, but I really was like, can I ask Tom for advice? And it was, no, we. We really shouldn't talk to him about that because I honestly had. I was on American Idol and I was. I was going to do a Nat Geo show. So that was coming. I was going to do a series on Nat Geo and those were already lined up. And then that job. And I thought that would be fun if I could make it work because I love my time on that show. I thought Aaron was awesome. You were so kind to me. And I thought that would be super fun to do. And then it was don't talk to Tom. And then it was nevermind. It wasn't even nevermind. I never got a call after I didn't get it. That's what's crazy.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, that's tip that given who was in charge of decisions at the time, that doesn't surprise me at all. And, you know, had you reached out to me, I would have told you to take it because even though they didn't officially fire me until July of 2020. Right. But I kind of knew. I mean, I was bumping heads with the showrunner at the time. We had had issues over bookings, promises were made and not kept, yada, yada. So I would have, you know, I would have been happy to talk to you about it and advised you to take it, but I would have told you who, who to watch out for.

[Bobby Bones]

Was some of that because of the Sean Spicer or was that the head of it that finally just made it happen?

[Tom Bergeron]

You know, it's interesting, at the party after the 20th anniversary show, which was just amazing, Sean was in at the party and I went across the room to go up to him and I said, sean, I just want to let you know it was never about you. It was about a political figure being on the show on the cusp of an election year. After the producers, in separate lunches won, the BBC guy and one the showrunner who got fired not long after me because karma's a bitch. They had promised, oh, yeah, oh, you're so right. We shouldn't do political figures. And this showrunner, when he was telling me over the phone who was booked, just before he got to Sean's name, he said, you might want to sit down for this. So he already knew. My reaction, based on our previous conversation wasn't going to be that great, but I wanted Sean to know, at that party that it wasn't about him. It was about the broken promise. So Sean said, at that point, can we take a picture together? So I put my arm around him and I said, this is going to blow people's minds. And we had a picture taken so that it was not him. It was the political sphere at the time.

[Bobby Bones]

I want to ask you a question about Hollywood in general. I've stayed out there, but I've lived out there in sections, and, you know, I've done an okay amount of TV work. Nothing compared to you. But it feels like when I go into these rooms, they are telling me, it doesn't matter what room at what network. They are telling me, yeah, you want a show? What show do you want? You want a building named after you want $10 million? Like, I leave every room, Tom, thinking that I'm about to host the network, not a. They make me feel like I'm about to get every. And then I leave, and I never hear from them again. Is that common?

[Tom Bergeron]

Right? Is bullshit common in Hollywood?

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, it feels like it's everywhere, and it's super positive. So much so that you believe you're getting every job.

[Tom Bergeron]

I mean, you know, actors aren't just on screen. A lot of them are in offices. So, you know, I come from New England. I grew up in Massachusetts and did radio TV in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and such. And I don't want to overgeneralize about those of us from New England, but I think we tend to. I think that's where the eyebrow came from. You know, we're. We're a little skeptical about things on face value. So, you know, I was aware of that, you know, because everybody's your best friend. But I kind of go through my own process of deciding whether this is legitimate emotion or just BS emotion.

[Bobby Bones]

I once was in a network president's office, the literal president of the network, and he was telling me, context clues will probably give away who it was. He was telling me, hey, look, I made Jeff Probst. You're the next guy up. And I'm going, less.

[Tom Bergeron]

It was less.

[Bobby Bones]

It was less.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, it was less. Moondez. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And I'm going, really? Like, I was just coming because of some random show that they said, hey, we'd be perfect for. And I went from that room to the president of the. Of CBS's Room to Going, you're the next guy. And comparing me to guys that they had already made. I walked out of the room. I was spending. I was spending my millions already, Tom. They had convinced me that. And that I never heard back about anything ever.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's you. Look, it's not every situation, but it happens enough that you should always have your guard up a bit.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, I think my guard lives up now after like six of those. I think nothing is going to happen. How did you get on Dancing with the Stars? Like the very first time. Did you go through an audition process or were you just their guy based on.

[Tom Bergeron]

No, they came to me. They came to me because I was doing America's funniest videos for the network at the time and we were going to be on hiatus over the summer and that original season was a summer six week season of Dancing with the Stars. And. And so when Andrea Wong, who was the head of entertainment in the reality sphere at ABC at the time through my agent, said we'd love Tom to host this show. And I was initially skeptical until I saw a DVD of the British show the Mothership. We call it Strictly Come Dancing. And I thought, this is. This could be fun. It's got an old style variety show vibe to it. It's got the modern reality show elimination competition. And I'm on hiatus from videos. So I said yes.

[Bobby Bones]

And

[Tom Bergeron]

then. Now here's something I've never told anybody. You ready for this?

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

I was told that the powers that be at the video show were not happy and that they might pursue legal action if I was going to host this other show, which is on the same network and done during a time that I wasn't going to be shooting afv. So it got kind of weird that the lawyer, another moonpeds, I think, asked my agent, does Tom have a lawyer? And I thought, what the hell is this? This kind of goes back to your whole, you know, they're telling you the greatest thing on earth and then they hit you out of left field. So apparently before it accelerated anymore, Andrea, according to what I was told by my agent, told the folks at videos, we want him to do it, he's going to do it. And if this continues, we might have to rethink your pickup. The network is ugly.

[Sponsor / Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

When you started, did you think it'd be a long runner?

[Tom Bergeron]

No, no, I thought it would be a fun summer gig. And in all honesty, it took me until February of 06 because that first season was in the summer of 05. And it's a live show and there were a lot of scripted jokes and things. Very talented writer, a buddy of mine. But for me to do scripted pre planned jokes on the live show as opposed to responding in the moment to what was happening, whether that's with humor, snark, genuine emotion, whatever. That just seemed weird to me. So it wasn't until the second season that I went to the producers and I said, look, let me fly blind here in a sense and respond in what I'm feeling in the moment. Let's get rid of the scripted jokes. And then I started to find my rhythm with it. Then I felt better about it.

[Bobby Bones]

When did you feel it actually, like,

[Tom Bergeron]

piercing pop culture that second season? Because the first season in the summer, it did. Well, then they did this weird rematch between John O' Hurley and Kelly Monaco in September or October of 05. Now, I understand they probably did it just to keep the show in people's minds, but it didn't write that well, and I didn't expect it would because, number one, I thought Kelly won. Let's move on. But they thought, oh, let's have a rematch. And so you're already appealing to a smaller slice of the pie, you know, people who thought that John should have won or whatever. And that whole slice isn't necessarily going to show up when you do your show. So I was concerned going into season two that it might not have, pardon the dancing pun, legs. And of course, season two just blew up. I have a new cast, better time slot, longer season. Yeah, that's when I knew. Back in. Yeah. February of 06. Let's take a quick pause for a

[Bobby Bones]

message from our sponsor.

[Sponsor / Advertisement Voice]

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[Podcast Trailer Narrator]

In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband Mike, was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing, and immediately the mask came off.

[Bobby Bones]

You're supposed to be safe.

[Nancy Glass]

That's your home.

[Bobby Bones]

That's your husband.

[Podcast Trailer Narrator]

To keep this secret for so many years, he's like a seasoned pro. This is a story about the end of a marriage, but it's also the story of one woman who was done living in the dark.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

You're a dangerous person who preys on

[Tom Bergeron]

vulnerable and trusting people.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

You're a predator. Michael Levengood.

[Podcast Trailer Narrator]

Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Nancy Glass]

I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt season two podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random cr.

[Tom Bergeron]

He pulls the gun, tells me to

[Sponsor / Advertisement Voice]

lie down on the ground.

[Nancy Glass]

He identified Jermaine Hudson as the perpetrator. Jermaine was sentenced to 99 years.

[Bobby Bones]

I'm like, lord, this can't be real. I thought it was a mistaken identity.

[Sponsor / Advertisement Voice]

The best lie is partial truth.

[Nancy Glass]

For 22 years, only two people knew the truth until a confession changed everything.

[Tom Bergeron]

I was a monster.

[Nancy Glass]

Listen to Burden of guilt season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bobby Bones]

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[Tom Bergeron]

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[Bobby Bones]

And we're back on the Bobby Cast. My final Dancing with the Stars question, and it's obviously going to be about me. When did you start to think that I could win that thing?

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, that's a good question. I. I knew that based on your radio audience and the fact that you could use your radio show to promote votes for yourself, that that could sway the competition. And ultimately it did. And I also knew early on that, okay, if that's how it plays out, it's going to be controversial, and it'll probably cause the producers to address the balance between viewer votes and the judges sway. And that's exactly how it played out. I couldn't tell you when exactly, but I knew as the season went on. And it was no reflection on you or your dancing or anything, but just the logistics of having a radio audience that you could mobilize and these other people didn't.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, for me, I never really felt comfortable dancing, obviously. But I've talked about this a couple times in interviews where people have said, you know, does it bother you when you continue to get beat up as the bad dancer? And I said, in my season, I wasn't the bad dancer. I was the bad winner of all the seasons. Like, there was a difference. Because even in my own season, I wasn't the controversial one that was sticking around. It was Grocery Store Joe. It was some. I was just a guy that people liked and I was doing okay. But once I got to the end and I won, I am now associated with every bad dancer because I wasn't the bad dancer. I'm the bad winner. And I felt terrible for Sharna. Cause she was just. She's awesome and a great dancer, but we. And my job is to say things and then live with what I've said. Hers really isn't. And so. But she's had to, you know, take a lot of. A lot of heat for winning that with me.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. You know, it's interesting when all of this stuff between you and I went down, I was told that I have been banned for life from a sports podcast, that I don't know if you know these guys. And. And I said to Sharna, because I'm not, in all honesty, I'm a fair weather sports fan. So banning me from a sports podcast, I said to her, is probably like banning Bobby from Blackpool. It's not really going to affect our lives that much.

[Bobby Bones]

You know, that sports podcast is called Mostly Sports. I want to shout them out. That is straight loyalty. Because they loved you too. But they loved me more, and I appreciated that. Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

But for life.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. I mean, I. I'll talk to them. I'll talk to them, Tom.

[Tom Bergeron]

All right.

[Bobby Bones]

I'll get you reinstated.

[Tom Bergeron]

Okay.

[Bobby Bones]

To something you didn't even know existed, but I will get you reinstated.

[Tom Bergeron]

There is that. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

The weird thing for me on that, too, was after it was over, because they can tell you nothing while you're doing the show. They give you no information. It is so by the books that you don't know if you're on the bottom three. You don't know where you finished. They don't tell you. But after it was over, a few of the Executives that I still know and have relationships with, they said, hey, we could see the data as it was happening. And they said as you went into that last performance, their exact sentiment was, you could have walked out, taken a leak on the stage and walked off and you would have won based on the votes that you had. So I didn't know that because I was killing myself over it. I was like, oh, my God, everybody hates me. You did also the Mass Singer. Now I have a relationship with that show in that they came to me to be one of the judges or it was me going to go do Idol and Dancing with the Stars. And I picked to do Idol and Dancing with the Stars. I still stand by that. I loved my time on both of those shows. I've not really thought about being a singer because I can't sing. But you were the taco on that show.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you. Was that an instant yes for you?

[Tom Bergeron]

It was interesting. The executive producer at the time was Izzy Pick, who had been one of my original co execs back in the start of Dancing with the Stars. So I'm gonna name drop here. I'm at William Shatner's house at a little football gathering, Monday Night Football, and my cell goes off and I see it'. So I walk into the bathroom with my cell phone and she says, hey, we've got one opening on Masked Singer this next. I think it was season three for them. Would you like to do it? And at that point, we're now talking January of 2020. I think I had finished what turned out to be my final season on Dancing with the Stars in November of 19. And I thought, yeah, you know, I'm not doing anything else. Sure. She said, we have two outfits left. There's a taco and a jellyfish. I thought, who wants to be a jellyfish? So I took the taco. But what I didn't realize, because I figured I'm going to be wearing a big tomato head, I bet I pre record the singing. No, you have to sing live.

[Nishi (Cabenuva testimonial)]

Oh, really?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, yeah. That was all life. So that was, you know, it was unnerving. And to be in a taco shell trying to dance like Elvis Presley is not the easiest thing in the world, let me tell you.

[Bobby Bones]

How secretive is that show? What was the protocol?

[Tom Bergeron]

The protocol was, and it was particularly odd given that for me, they shot Masked Singer at that point on the same soundstage as we had done Dancing with the Stars at CBS Television City. So the crew, craft services, all these people were the people I dealt with. All the time. But I had to hide my identity from them. The car would pick me up at the house here. I'd have a reflective visor and a hoodie and gloves, and I couldn't talk to anybody. And even the hoodie said, don't talk to him or her or whatever. And, yeah, it was crazy. And I was sequestered away until I came out to perform. Only one person knew it was me, Cheryl from Craft Services. And I said after, how did you know it was me? She said, you walked by Craft Services with the hoodie and the reflective thing and the gloves. Apparently I did something unconsciously because I'm very fond of her. I just kind of walked by and tapped her on the shoulder like I normally would have done and just that tipped her off that it was me. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Are you a good singer?

[Tom Bergeron]

I'm within a certain range, yeah. I'm not. I don't have multiple octaves at my disposal, but I think if you go and look at. The first song I did was my favorite. It was Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon. And it was okay. Bossanova Baby, the Elvis song, not so good.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you have a history in standup at all?

[Tom Bergeron]

No, but improv theater and studied with a mime company in South Paris, Maine. So technically, I could say I studied mime in Paris and get by on a polygraph.

[Bobby Bones]

And I know you were doing radio for a long time, but you were also working in Boston and television. When was that moment? When it was. I got to make a decision to move to Los Angeles. Like, what was that job offer? How'd you do that?

[Tom Bergeron]

That was Hollywood Squares with Whoopi back in 98. I had just come off a contract with Good Morning America. They had come to me. The most fun I've ever had on television. Bobby was a show I did for FX. When FX first launched in 94, I co hosted a morning show called Breakfast Time, which was two hours of wonderful improv in an apartment in the Flatiron district of New York, made for television. And it was sort of a critical hit on that fledgling cable network. And we always thought, some of us thought, look, if we get the call to go to the network, that's like being in, you know, the minor leagues, getting called to the major leagues. Sure enough, a producer from Fox said, we'd like to adapt your show for the network. And then he got a job somewhere else. So by the time we premiered this one hour version of the show on Fox, we were somebody else's project. Now, I don't know if you've had that experience, but you never want to go in as somebody else's project because they like to put their own little fingerprints all over it. So it turned out to be one of those be careful what you wish for scenarios. But oddly, at the same time, Roon Arledge was watching the show and thought I'd be perfect to take over for Charlie Gibson when apparently Charlie had decided to leave. Or maybe like when they told you I decided to leave, maybe they were firing him. I don't know. I don't know. But. So when it was clear that the Fox After Breakfast thing was just not working out, I did a test week with Good Morning America. They signed me to a contract and if they didn't announce me, this is. I'm sorry, this is such a long winded story. But if they didn't announce me by a certain date, they had to cut me a big check. So it didn't work out for some several reasons based on who they hired to co host Yada Yada. So they cut me the big check. Then I get a call from my agent. King World wants to fly you to LA to audition for Hollywood Squares. And I thought, I don't want to do a game show, you know, and she pointed out you, you currently are unemployed. All right, yeah, that's true. And I could probably, you know, see Whoopi again because I had met her on the Fox show. So I flew out. Whoopi and I, our chemistry was instant and they offered me the gig and they wanted me to, at that point, move out to la. And our girls were in school in Connecticut. I said, look, if you fly me back and forth, I'll do it. So that's ultimately how I came to this coast.

[Bobby Bones]

How long did that show run?

[Tom Bergeron]

Six years. Four with Whoopi as one of the executive producers, and two with Henry Winkler as one of the executive producers.

[Bobby Bones]

Is he the greatest guy?

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, if you look in the dictionary for Mensch, his picture will be next to it.

[Bobby Bones]

Everybody I know that has spent any time with him loves him. What is so lovely about Henry Winkler?

[Tom Bergeron]

There's just a genuineness about him that I found just wonderfully appealing. I just liked him immediately. When we got together to talk about how the show might change a little bit going into our fifth and sixth seasons, we traveled to a number of different markets together to promote it. And he had just such a wonderful overview of his own career. He said to me, I think we were at Penn Station, which hopefully won't be renamed for anybody soon. Where he said, you know, when he was the Fonz, even though he knew logically that careers have ups and downs, peaks and valleys. But I said to him, you're like all four Beatles in one person at that time with Fonzie. He said, yeah. And there was a part of me that thought maybe I'd be that rare exception that could go from peak to peak to peak without experiencing the valleys. And then, of course, he found out, like, everybody's career, it ebbs and flows, and he became a writer and a producer and a director and is good at all those things.

[Bobby Bones]

Was there ever a time during Hollywood Squares that these celebrities would get upset because they were one of the middle, not the absolute middle, but one of the, you know, the middles that aren't either in the corner or the middle square. Like, was there ever. Like, I'm bigger than sitting on the. I don't know what you'd call that spot, but one of the not good spots.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Well, I don't. Not that I remember. I mean, my fondest, apart from Whoopi, was the top right. Usually was Gilbert Gottfried. And he was, you know, he was

[Bobby Bones]

always dependable for a good joke.

[Tom Bergeron]

And, yeah, he was, in a lot of ways, my favorite. But I never heard any complaints to me because nothing I could have done about it, but nor did I hear any stories related to me from producers.

[Bobby Bones]

Whenever you go to AFV after Bob Saget, he was beloved in that spot, in that show. Did you feel the pressure there?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, not really, because I don't try to. By the time I took over the show, Bob had been gone for a number of years. There had been a couple of seasons where Daisy Fuentes and John Fugal sang, co hosted. Then after their two seasons, AFV turned into sort of a series of comedy specials. So it didn't have a regular slot on the network. And I actually was hosting the New England Emmy Awards when Vin Dabona, who is the producer, was the producer of the show. He was being honored because he's a Boston alum as well. And it wasn't being televised. It was just an industry thing. And I was doing my typical ad libbing, and he offered me the job at that dinner. And I didn't know Bob well at that point. We ultimately became really good friends. But I said to Vin, I said, well, Bob does his thing, but we'd have to put it through a desegregation process because I'm not this. He's a comedian. I think of myself more as Almost the straight man. I use the old example of Martin and Lewis. I said the videos are Jerry Lewis. And, you know, I'd be this sort of Dean Martin person. I can get a joke in here or there, but that wasn't my purpose. And Bob would tell me later when we'd have dinner that he'd probably host it now at the time, the way I do it, because he just worried about it too much. He always wanted to have a joke and everything like that. Cause he's a comic. He was a comic. But I did a one hour version of the show and we tried to do it in about 70 minutes, almost live. Bob's version was a half hour and sometimes it took four hours. And he was very honest about it. Yeah. Because he just had a different approach to it than I did. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Chemistry is such a big deal. Even chemistry with your producer, chemistry with your partner. Who do you feel like when you were doing Dancing, you had the most chemistry with as a partner?

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, in terms of the producer?

[Bobby Bones]

No, it's term as like a co host. Because you had some good co hosts, but they shifted. You were the one stable one.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Isn't that scary? I think Aaron. I think it would be in order of compatibility, it would be Aaron, Brooke, Samantha. And then she was only with me for the first season, Lisa Canning. But Erin and I just. We'd knew each other before working together, even when she was a contestant. We had done the national spelling bee for ABC out of Washington. And I had introduced her to my agent and attorney at a time that she was going through the whole stalker crap. So we were pretty tight going into Dancing with the Stars. And then when she got the nod to co host with me, I was thrilled. And it just, it was. For me, it was seamless because I loved her sense of. She's so smart and she's so funny. And so I never knew what was going to come at me from the skybox, you know, which. Which was when you're on live tv, that's the situation you want to be in.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. You want to be able to trust the person you're live with and it all accounts. And doing a four or five hour, like live national radio show even, like, I gotta trust my person, so I have to feel free enough to trust them that I can really be myself and that if I mess up and I slip, that they're gonna be strong enough to make sure that nobody notices that.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. But sometimes those slip ups are the human element that can be endearing in a way, you know, I mean, it just. It's. Sometimes I use the words of the great philosopher Bob Ross, who said, there are no mistakes. There are only happy accidents. So, you know, I think sometimes those mistakes can make us even more appealing to our listeners or viewers.

[Bobby Bones]

I fell. Episode one of my season, I fell. I tore my shoulder. I didn't know the dance shoes were so slick on that floor, even though I'd been training in them. But I wiped out. And then I threw my jacket into the crowd and took off running, and it was all a blur. It was the first time I'd ever finished that dance, was live on television.

[Tom Bergeron]

Is that right?

[Bobby Bones]

And I remember everybody trying to corral me and you going, come here, come here. It was all a blur.

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, you know, Misty May Trainor had just come back from the Olympics and she tore her ACL during a rehearsal on that ballroom fl. So. And that was the season we had a number of injuries. So, you know, it. Ballroom dancing isn't for sissies, you know. The Bobby cast. We'll be right back.

[Bobby Bones]

This is the Bobby cast. I got, like, three more questions for you. And mostly this was just a. I just wanted you to know that I still love you. And I wanted to, you know, address the elephant at very first and then have a conversation.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, I'm glad you did.

[Bobby Bones]

Yes. So.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, by the way, on that note.

[Bobby Bones]

Yes.

[Tom Bergeron]

When I watched it again, because I just. I needed to know what your response was. There were two things that came to me because I'm watching the playback and I say, and the winner and new champion of Dancing with the Stars is. And then the drum beat. Bum, bum, bum.

[Bobby Bones]

Took forever.

[Tom Bergeron]

I didn't realize how damn long that is.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, no, it was forever.

[Tom Bergeron]

I could have gone on, made a sandwich. I could have gone and hit a drive through before I finally announced the winner. But I watched particularly what you said in that moment, and as best I could lip read, you said the moment I announced your name. What the hell is happening?

[Bobby Bones]

You know, I probably said that that's a blur. Oh, there's that. That year is just full of blurs. And that show is full of blurs of the pro dancers that you got to know, like, who did you really love being around as people? Can you give me three that come to mind immediately?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Well, Cheryl, Sharna and Val Chmerkovsky. Ashley Del Grosso, whom I danced with in season two. It'd be hard to say Mark Ball went to see him perform on Broadway. They're all. I kind of felt like the dad to many of them. So I was really fond of all of them, but I think Cheryl certainly has been a more constant friend since I've left the show.

[Bobby Bones]

It was always weird to me to hear from people who were on the show and didn't want to be there.

[Tom Bergeron]

You think that's because they didn't realize going in just what it would take to. To continue?

[Bobby Bones]

Probably that or they said they were doing it, and then people in their circle were making them feel like you're a loser for doing this. I think it was a combination of both.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, okay.

[Bobby Bones]

Because I called one of my dearest friends when I got offered the show, I called Charlemagne Tha God, who is massive radio guy in New York hip hop. And I talked to the property brother, Drew Scott, and I said, drew, you've done it. What do you think? And his advice was, oh, you have to do it. I'm extremely awkward. And I loved it and had no experience whatsoever. And I said, great. I called Charlamagne and I said, hey, what do you think? Because I was just starting to get offers on things. And he said, the people that are saying that only losers do that show are only looking at a selection of people that come back that have had a career and come back. But he said, look at Kim Kardashian. Look at Michael Strahan. He listed, like, seven people on the way up that used that show as a vehicle. And that was really what convinced me, because I saw that as one. The network wanted me to do it because I never was like, hey, put me on Dancing with the Stars. I loved it, but that was never my choice. But I saw that, and that talk was really good for me. And I feel like people that get on the show and they're upset about it either a, they don't know the work they have to put in, or two people in their circle are going, you're doing a dance show. That's lame.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I just. I have. I understand that. I think my experience with some who might not have been as happy as others, as the season progressed, it had. I'm thinking of one person in particular whom I won't name, but a comedian who just lost all of his funny bone because he wasn't ready for how hard it was going to be, how much time was going to be required. The fact that you're doing it live, there's no, you know, to your point earlier, there's no second take, and it's tense. Which is one of the reasons why, if you remember how NC17, I would make the dress rehearsal sometimes yes, it was to relax you guys, especially in the early weeks that, you know, it's only a ballroom competition show, just everybody relax. And I'd get that all out of my system, you know, the darker R rated jokes during the dress rehearsal. But there was a purpose behind that too, to help you guys all relax.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you ever see anybody get really upset after they lost?

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, John o' Hurley wasn't happy. I mean, I think that was part of the reason that we had that dance off in September of 05, you know, but he's the first one that comes to mind. But I can't think of others who I'm sure there were. But one of the things people don't know is how little I was really involved in the day to day stuff. I didn't, you know, occasionally I might show up at a rehearsal just to say hi. But typically my week was a Friday production meeting in the office and Monday and occasionally Tuesday when we had result shows, I'd be there for the show, but after Monday aired live, I wouldn't be there until Friday. So, you know, I was a part of the show. But I also had the advantage of being slightly apart from the show so I could watch it almost as a viewer watched it.

[Bobby Bones]

So I know you're semi retired or retired, I don't know what the word used for it, but that's got to be crazy for you, someone who's been so active for so long and I just don't think you're retired, I think you're just still staying active and like, I don't feel like you're someone who's going to sit around much like, what are you doing?

[Tom Bergeron]

No, I, yeah, I think that's, that's accurate. I just, I just did Dick Van Dyke's audiobook for his last, his most recent book, 100 Rules for Living to 100. I did a stint, a couple of episodes of Drew Barrymore's version of Hollywood Squares. You know, came back for the anniversary show for Dancing with the Stars because my original showrunner, Conrad Greene, is the showrunner again. And so given that environment, I felt very comfortable going back. And I'm always open to being surprised. I don't have a fire in my gut to host anything anymore. But when I look back at my career, the shows that I ended up having the most fun on were shows that I didn't pursue and initially thought I wasn't that interested in. Breakfast time on fx, Hollywood Squares, Dancing with the Stars. So I've learned that my initial reaction isn't Always to be trusted.

[Bobby Bones]

Final question. Did you ever almost get a big job and you didn't get it?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Good Morning America. I was again under contract to replace Charlie. I had done this wonderful sort of audition week with Elizabeth Vargas that actually got a cheer in the cheers and jeers section of the old TV Guide. And so I was feeling like, okay, I was feeling like you were feeling when you were negotiating to take over as the host of Dancing with the Stars. This is gonna be great. I'm in like flint. And then I met the person that they hired to replace Joan London, somebody from LA. Lisa McCree. And we just had no chemistry. I used to kid that if you were close enough to your television set, you could feel the wind chill come off the speaker. And in fact, when they decided, because they already had a contract with her and they had an option to pick up mine, and when they didn't and they cut me the check, we bought a place in New Hampshire. And in my office, I have a plaque that says McCree Manor. From Cold shoulder to warm hearth.

[Bobby Bones]

That's funny. Well, I really appreciate the time. It's great seeing you again.

[Tom Bergeron]

Great seeing you too, Bobby. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

You know, I just think of me positively, Tom. That's all. Just think of me positively.

[Tom Bergeron]

I do.

[Bobby Bones]

You know, the question wasn't even about me. It was like, who surprised you? And you were like, I don't have an answer for that, but I could tell you who I can't believe won. And I was like, man, that guy got me.

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, I didn't quite say it with that snarky tone, that vigor you had,

[Bobby Bones]

that vigor about you whenever you were throwing me out there. But I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan of you and never stopped. And thank you so much. And hopefully we'll bump into each other sometime when I'm out there and in crazy Hollywood getting all my million dollars offers that never actually come to fruition.

[Tom Bergeron]

We'll debrief after your meetings.

[Bobby Bones]

Okay. Very good, Tom. Good to see you.

[Tom Bergeron]

Take care, buddy.

[Bobby Bones]

Bye, Tom. Thanks for listening to a Bobbycast production.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

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