Tom Bergeron gave this casting selection a 0.
Former “Dancing With the Stars” host Tom Bergeron revealed Monday that he felt “betrayed” by show runners after they casted former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer against his wishes.
“I said, ‘Guys, this is strictly what we said we wouldn’t do,’” Bergeron, 68, said on Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast. “‘Don’t go there. That is, , not the appropriate time, play to our strengths, be the show that offers people a break from all this bulls–t.’”
The Post has reached out to Bergeron and Spicer for comment.
Based on Bergeron, each the showrunners and producers were determined to bring Spicer, 52, on the show.
Bergeron, who asserted that he would have said the identical thing if it had been a high-profile Democrat, revealed that he offered to “take the season off” while Spicer competed for the Mirrorball trophy.
It was then the ABC executives offered to release the host from his contract.
“That’s how strongly they felt,” Bergeron said, while adding that it “really pissed me off.”
Furious on the broadcasting company, the previous host composed and later released a somewhat shady statement regarding his meeting with the higher-ups.
Within the statement, which was shared on his X (formerly Twitter) account before the host deactivated it, Bergeron blasted ABC for steering the show away from a “joyful respite from our exhausting political climate” freed from “inevitably divisive bookings from ANY party affiliations.”
Based on the host, he didn’t tell ABC he was planning to release the statement because “they didn’t need to know.”
“That they had screwed me. I’m gonna screw them,” Bergeron explained. “But I wanted the viewers to know this was a step too far to me.
“This was a step too far on the cusp of an election 12 months. And again — had it been a Democrat, same statement,” he added.
The previous “America’s Funniest Home Videos” host said he received a whole lot of complaints from viewers regarding Spicer after the previous White House official was announced as a part of the show’s twenty eighth season.
“At that moment, I knew this might be my last season, due to that one betrayal,” he said. “Up until that time, there have been people of character there.”
True to his word, Bergeron later tweeted that he can be leaving the show.
“Just informed @DancingABC might be continuing without me,” Bergeron tweeted. “It’s been an incredible 15 12 months run and probably the most unexpected gift of my profession. I’m grateful for that and for the lifelong friendships made. That said, now what am I purported to do with all of those glitter masks?”
Bergeron was later replaced by fashion icon Tyra Banks, 49, who cha-cha’d her way out prior to the thirty second season.
She was later replaced by Julianne Hough, who serves as co-host with former “DWTS” champ Alfonso Ribeiro.
“Dancing With the Stars” airs every Tuesday on ABC at 8 p.m. EST.
