Dancing With the Stars fans will be waltzing their way to Discovery this summer for the big television return of a former ballroom favorite.
Tom Bergeron, 70, the show’s host for 28 seasons, is finding a campy way to honor his mirror-ball past. He will host the aptly titled Dancing With Sharks for Discovery as part of Shark Week 2025, per Variety. The news, announced on May 14, promises “an unprecedented underwater dance competition between expert divers and their shark partners.”
It’s hard to believe that someone came up with this concept in the first place, but it’s all real. “Blending skill, grace, and the daring pursuit of the ultimate underwater thrill, five divers—all trained by a world-class underwater choreographer—will compete to show off their skills during epic underwater dances,” the statement teased. Viewers can look for moves like “the Hammerhead Hoedown and Tiger Trot” when Shark Week 2025 airs July 6 through July 13.
Bergeron played into the news with his own cheeky reveal on his Instagram page. While the Jaws film score played, he revealed the word “Dancing” on his sweatshirt. Then he pretended to sneeze as the rest of the “With Sharks” phrase was unveiled. He wrote on the clip, “See you this summer. It’ll be fintastic!” He wrote an additional message in the caption, “Yup. It’s happening.”
The Emmy-Award winner seemed eager to be back in everyone’s living rooms after successful runs on the ABC dance competition show and America’s Funniest Home Videos. He added a second Instagram post and joked in the caption, “I was patiently waiting for a cross-species spinoff 😏🦈.”
Bergeron and co-host Erin Andrews were let go from the series and replaced by Tyra Banks ahead of Season 29. She hosted the show solo for two seasons until Alfonso Ribeiro was hired to co-host with her. Banks left after Season 31 and was replaced by Julianne Hough.
Even with Ribiero and Hough holding down the ballroom, Bergeron is still asked when he’s returning to the show. In December 2020, he shared with TV Insider how he responds to the fans who still miss him on the long-running series.
“When people say, “I’m not gonna watch until you’re back,” I say, “Well, there’s really no ‘until’ here.” This train has left the station,” Bergeron explained. “I appreciate the sentiment, and I don’t hold it against anybody if they [watch].”
Why was Tom Bergeron fired?
In October 2021, Bergeron opened up on Bob Saget’s Here For You podcast. “In all candor, the show that I left was not the show that I loved,” he explained. “So, at the end of the season that turned out to be my last season, I kind of knew. I took everything out of my dressing room that I really wanted. … It was kind of obvious that we were kind of butting heads [behind the scenes]. It wasn’t a pleasant [experience].”
The TV personality had philosophical differences in how the show should be cast with Dancing With the Stars producers after they invited Donald Trump’s ex-press secretary Sean Spicer to do Season 28. Bergeron was public with his displeasure in a now-deleted tweet about why he was disappointed by the casting decision. He wanted the show to be a “joyful respite from our exhausting political climate and free of inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations,” per Woman’s Day.
Bergeron reflected on that moment with Saget and how he remembers his time on Dancing With the Stars.
“They’re entitled to do the show the way they think is best. And so, I look back at the time I spent there with really great fondness for the vast majority of it,” he said in 2021. “And also, there are people there on the show performing that I still care about, and I want them to have long careers. I want people to still watch it and support them and understand that sure, it’s different. But, you know, there’s still very talented people who were going to be on your screens.”
