Latest news with #DancingWiththeStars
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Tom Bergeron on a possible ‘DWTS' return ahead of new shark show
Under the sea. Former 'Dancing With the Stars' host Tom Bergeron, 70, hosts a Shark Week special called 'Dancing With Sharks.' 'I had two reactions,' Bergeron, 70, exclusively told The Post. Advertisement 6 Tom Bergeron on 'Dancing With Sharks.' tombergeron/Instagram 'The first one was, 'What are you smoking?' And the second one was 'Where do I sign?' It was just too much fun an idea to pass up. Plus, as an added incentive, they gave me a little trip to the Bahamas.' He quipped, 'Some of these sharks danced better than some of the humans in the 15 years that I watched couples [on 'Dancing With the Stars']. Sharks don't have stage fright.' Advertisement Airing Sunday, July 20 (8 p.m. ET on Discovery), 'Dancing With Sharks' follows five shark experts as they dance underwater, surrounded by sharks, as Bergeron and a panel of judges (including Allison Holker and comedian Pete Holmes) offer commentary. The Emmy-winning TV host, who also helmed 'Hollywood Squares' from 1998 to 2004 and 'America's Funniest Home Videos' from 2001 to 2015, hosted 'Dancing With the Stars' from 2005 until he was fired from the ABC show in 2020. He was later replaced by Tyra Banks, who hosted just three seasons before her exit. 6 Contestant Jamie Ferguson interacting with a shark in a scene from 'Dancing with Sharks.' AP Advertisement 'I miss the people,' Bergeron said, but he explained that his contract would have taken him to Season 30, 'at which point, I was going to leave on my own timing. So, I only missed two seasons by being fired.' He added, 'Those two seasons, which would have been my final two, all occurred during the pandemic. And I would have hated that, because everything that I loved about the show — the camaraderie, throwing a party for everybody mid-season, hanging out together. You couldn't do any of that.' Looking back on his firing, Bergeron said, 'In hindsight, they kind of did me a favor.' 6 Tom Bergeron on 'Dancing With Sharks.' tombergeron/Instagram Advertisement 6 Tom Bergeron, Tonya Harding, and Sasha Farber on 'Dancing with Sharks.' ABC He added, 'I was able to go out doing the show the way I always did the show. And on that last show. Len [Goodman] and Bruno [Tonioli], Carrie Ann [Inaba] and I had a great time. I have great memories of wrapping it up that way.' Bergeron recalled that he recently had lunch with original 'Dancing with the Stars' showrunner Conrad Green, who is back in that role and is 'the reason the show has righted itself.' On whether he'd ever return, he told The Post: 'At lunch with Conrad, I offered a way that I'd feel comfortable going back for one night. I said, 'I'm not even going to charge you a lot of money. You pay me scale, and then you make a generous contribution to the Motion Picture and Television Fund, and I'll be there.'' 6 Janelle Van Ruiten interacting with a shark in a scene from 'Dancing with Sharks.' AP 6 Tom Bergeron on a 2018 episode of 'Dancing With the Stars.' ABC 'So we'll see. The mirrorball is in their court,' he continued. For now, Bergeron has a newfound interest in sharks. Advertisement 'Don't tell my wife, but now I'm intrigued about at least getting in one of the cages and going underwater and getting up close [with sharks],' he teased. 'The people I've met doing this show have really allayed some of my concerns about doing something like that.' However, he joked, 'It might result in a divorce.'
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Discovery 'Shark Week' has breaching great whites, looks back at 'Jaws' and starts with some dancing
NEW YORK (AP) — Fifty years ago, 'Jaws' unlocked dread in millions about man-eating sharks. This summer, that fear may be somewhat reduced as they become contestants on a TV dance show. Former 'Dancing With the Stars' host Tom Bergeron steps up for a marketing masterstroke by Discovery Channel's 'Shark Week' — 'Dancing with Sharks,' where humans and 20-foot-long hammerhead sharks do a little mambo. 'I had a decade and a half experience of hosting a dance show, but this one was different,' Bergeron tells The Associated Press. 'I'd often thought on 'Dancing With the Stars,' wouldn't it be great if we could incorporate another species? And here I've finally got my dream come true.' In the show, five scuba-diving shark handlers use bait to twirl and guide various sharks into mini-waltzes, in what's being billed as 'the world's most dangerous dance competition.' One contestant wraps his arms around a nerf shark and spoons it. Another takes off her air tank and does a double backflip. A third — a hip-hop loving shark handler — does an old school head spin on the ocean floor as sharks swirl. 'These are some of the best shark handlers in the world. These are people who know the nuances of sharks, know how they move, know how to behave, know how to safely move with them, and they're guiding these sharks along as you would a partner,' says Kinga Philipps, a TV correspondent and one of the three judges. 'It is so fluid and beautiful, all they really had to do is put a little bit of music to it and they're actually dancing.' It's a shark-a-thon 'Dancing with Sharks' kicks off the week of programing, which includes shows on how to survive a shark attack, why New Smyrna Beach in Florida has earned the title of 'The Shark Attack Capital of the World' and whether a mysterious dark-skinned shark off the coast of California is a mako, mutant or possibly a mako-and-great white hybrid. The seven nights of new shows — and a related podcast — ends off the Mozambique coast with a once-a-year feeding frenzy that turns into a showdown between the sharks and their massive prey, the giant trevally. One highlight is Paul de Gelder's 'How to Survive a Shark Attack,' which he has intimate knowledge about. He lost his right hand and leg in 2009 during an attack by a bull shark in Sydney Harbor. 'If you're in the jaws of a shark, you want to fight for all of your life. You want to go for the soft parts. You want go for the eyeball. You want to go for the gills,' he says. 'But if you're not being attacked by a shark and you're just encountering a shark, then you just want to remain calm.' De Gelder debunks one myth: Punching a charging shark will stop its attack. 'If you really want to hurt your own hand, go ahead,' he says. A better approach is to not thrash about and gently redirect the animal. 'The secret I got taught many years ago was don't act like food and they won't treat you like food.' 'Shark Week' has become a key part of the summer holiday TV schedule, a place where humans safe on land can see ancient apex predators unnervingly glide into view and snap open their jaws. This year's highlights also include the hunt for a 20-foot great white that can leap into the air — 'Air Jaws: The Hunt for Colossus' — and a show about male and female great whites competing in a series of challenges to determine which sex is the superior predator, naturally called 'Great White Sex Battle.' Joseph Schneier, senior vice president of production and development at Discovery, says the shows are born from listening to what the diving and science community is seeing, like pro divers moving artistically with the sharks as they fed them, leading to 'Dancing With Sharks.' 'We realized, well, there's something here that we can go further with,' he says. 'We're lucky that sharks continue to surprise us. Which helps us get kind of new stories and new things to focus on. That's been the mantra for us — the sharks are the stars, not the humans.' As always, there is a deep respect for the creatures and strong science beneath the amusing titles, sharky puns, dramatic music and racy titles like 'Frankenshark' and 'Alien Sharks: Death Down Under.' 'It's like putting your vegetables in a dessert,' says Bergeron. 'You get all the allure of a 'Dancing With Sharks' or other specific shows, but in the midst of that you do learn a lot about sharks and ecology and the importance of sharks in the ecosystem. It's all in your strawberry sundae.' Discovery's 'Shark Week' has a rival — National Geographic's 'SharkFest,' which also has hours of sharky content. There's also the unconnected shark horror comedy 'Hot Spring Shark Attack' and a movie earlier this summer that added a serial killer to a shark movie — 'Dangerous Animals.' Born from 'Jaws' 'Shark Week' was born as a counterpoint for those who developed a fear of sharks after seeing 'Jaws.' It has emerged as a destination for scientists eager to protect an animal older than trees. ''Jaws' helped introduce this country and this world to a predator we're all fascinated with,' says Schneier. 'But we also feel 'Jaws' went too far. These are not creatures that are out to hurt humans by any means, but they have had 50-plus million years of evolution to get to this place where they are just excellent predators. It's fun to celebrate just how good they are at their job.' Kendyl Berna, who co-founded the ecology group Beyond the Reef, and is a veteran on 'Shark Week,' says studying the ancient beasts can teach humans about changes to the planet. 'So much of the programming this year speaks to what's happening with the rest of the world — climate change and how much that affects where sharks are and when they're there and what they're eating,' she says. 'As a keystone apex predator, sharks do set the tone for what's happening.' Bergeron says being a part of 'Shark Week' for the first time and meeting some of the divers who interact with sharks has actually made him braver. 'I don't think I'm at a point where I could go down there with them and have the sharks swirling around me without a cage. But with a cage, I think I am ready to do that,' he says. 'Just don't tell my wife.'
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Discovery ‘Shark Week' has breaching great whites, looks back at ‘Jaws' and starts with some dancing
NEW YORK (AP) — Fifty years ago, 'Jaws' unlocked dread in millions about man-eating sharks. This summer, that fear may be somewhat reduced as they become contestants on a TV dance show. Former 'Dancing With the Stars' host Tom Bergeron steps up for a marketing masterstroke by Discovery Channel's 'Shark Week' — 'Dancing with Sharks,' where humans and 20-foot-long hammerhead sharks do a little mambo. 'I had a decade and a half experience of hosting a dance show, but this one was different,' Bergeron tells The Associated Press. 'I'd often thought on 'Dancing With the Stars,' wouldn't it be great if we could incorporate another species? And here I've finally got my dream come true.' In the show, five scuba-diving shark handlers use bait to twirl and guide various sharks into mini-waltzes, in what's being billed as 'the world's most dangerous dance competition.' One contestant wraps his arms around a nerf shark and spoons it. Another takes off her air tank and does a double backflip. A third — a hip-hop loving shark handler — does an old school head spin on the ocean floor as sharks swirl. 'These are some of the best shark handlers in the world. These are people who know the nuances of sharks, know how they move, know how to behave, know how to safely move with them, and they're guiding these sharks along as you would a partner,' says Kinga Philipps, a TV correspondent and one of the three judges. 'It is so fluid and beautiful, all they really had to do is put a little bit of music to it and they're actually dancing.' It's a shark-a-thon 'Dancing with Sharks' kicks off the week of programing, which includes shows on how to survive a shark attack, why New Smyrna Beach in Florida has earned the title of 'The Shark Attack Capital of the World' and whether a mysterious dark-skinned shark off the coast of California is a mako, mutant or possibly a mako-and-great white hybrid. The seven nights of new shows — and a related podcast — ends off the Mozambique coast with a once-a-year feeding frenzy that turns into a showdown between the sharks and their massive prey, the giant trevally. One highlight is Paul de Gelder's 'How to Survive a Shark Attack,' which he has intimate knowledge about. He lost his right hand and leg in 2009 during an attack by a bull shark in Sydney Harbor. 'If you're in the jaws of a shark, you want to fight for all of your life. You want to go for the soft parts. You want go for the eyeball. You want to go for the gills,' he says. 'But if you're not being attacked by a shark and you're just encountering a shark, then you just want to remain calm.' De Gelder debunks one myth: Punching a charging shark will stop its attack. 'If you really want to hurt your own hand, go ahead,' he says. A better approach is to not thrash about and gently redirect the animal. 'The secret I got taught many years ago was don't act like food and they won't treat you like food.' 'Shark Week' has become a key part of the summer holiday TV schedule, a place where humans safe on land can see ancient apex predators unnervingly glide into view and snap open their jaws. This year's highlights also include the hunt for a 20-foot great white that can leap into the air — 'Air Jaws: The Hunt for Colossus' — and a show about male and female great whites competing in a series of challenges to determine which sex is the superior predator, naturally called 'Great White Sex Battle.' Joseph Schneier, senior vice president of production and development at Discovery, says the shows are born from listening to what the diving and science community is seeing, like pro divers moving artistically with the sharks as they fed them, leading to 'Dancing With Sharks.' 'We realized, well, there's something here that we can go further with,' he says. 'We're lucky that sharks continue to surprise us. Which helps us get kind of new stories and new things to focus on. That's been the mantra for us — the sharks are the stars, not the humans.' As always, there is a deep respect for the creatures and strong science beneath the amusing titles, sharky puns, dramatic music and racy titles like 'Frankenshark' and 'Alien Sharks: Death Down Under.' 'It's like putting your vegetables in a dessert,' says Bergeron. 'You get all the allure of a 'Dancing With Sharks' or other specific shows, but in the midst of that you do learn a lot about sharks and ecology and the importance of sharks in the ecosystem. It's all in your strawberry sundae.' Discovery's 'Shark Week' has a rival — National Geographic's 'SharkFest,' which also has hours of sharky content. There's also the unconnected shark horror comedy 'Hot Spring Shark Attack' and a movie earlier this summer that added a serial killer to a shark movie — 'Dangerous Animals.' Born from 'Jaws' 'Shark Week' was born as a counterpoint for those who developed a fear of sharks after seeing 'Jaws.' It has emerged as a destination for scientists eager to protect an animal older than trees. Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. ''Jaws' helped introduce this country and this world to a predator we're all fascinated with,' says Schneier. 'But we also feel 'Jaws' went too far. These are not creatures that are out to hurt humans by any means, but they have had 50-plus million years of evolution to get to this place where they are just excellent predators. It's fun to celebrate just how good they are at their job.' Kendyl Berna, who co-founded the ecology group Beyond the Reef, and is a veteran on 'Shark Week,' says studying the ancient beasts can teach humans about changes to the planet. 'So much of the programming this year speaks to what's happening with the rest of the world — climate change and how much that affects where sharks are and when they're there and what they're eating,' she says. 'As a keystone apex predator, sharks do set the tone for what's happening.' Bergeron says being a part of 'Shark Week' for the first time and meeting some of the divers who interact with sharks has actually made him braver. 'I don't think I'm at a point where I could go down there with them and have the sharks swirling around me without a cage. But with a cage, I think I am ready to do that,' he says. 'Just don't tell my wife.'
USA Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Tom Bergeron on 'Dancing With Sharks' dangers, sad trophies and 'DWTS' return
Even Tom Bergeron was shell-shocked when the Warner Bros. Discovery team behind Shark Week, the annual summer TV dive into all-shark programming, contacted the beloved former "Dancing With the Stars" host with an off-the-hook opportunity – hosting "Dancing With Sharks." While critics have groaned that 37th Shark Week has jumped the shark with the campy competition, the Emmy-winning Bergeron, 70, immediately took the bait. "Yeah, it was a surprise. Needless to say, no one had ever come up with this topic before," Bergeron tells USA TODAY. "But it tickled me. And it also incorporates something we should've tried in my 15 years hosting 'Dancing With the Stars'; Bringing in another species." Even Bergeron didn't know how the apex predator prancing would work before the shoot on the shark-filled Bahamian island of Bimini. Here's what happens in Discovery Channel's "Dancing With Sharks," which kicks off Shark Week July 20 (8 ET/PT). More: Summer of 'Jaws': Shark Week 2025 stocked with drama, dread ... and dancing Real sharks dance with shark handlers, with legitimate danger The loose competition features five contestants, all professional shark wranglers, grooving to tunes underwater with whichever swimming predator wants to tango. A choreographer specializing in underwater dance trains each contestant for the routines, which include one head spin on the ocean floor, as well as props such as a boom box and an electric guitar. "I'm just glad they weren't plugged in," says Bergeron. "That would have led to easy eliminations." The real risks of shark bites are often played up. For example, Bergeron's over-the-top voiceover warns early on that contestants could end up as "lunch." The routines are critiqued by a panel of three judges, including adventure correspondent Kinga Philipps, dancer/choreographer Allison Holker and the bemused comedian Pete Holmes (who flat-out calls the competition with sharks "a bad idea"). Spoiler alert: Each human contestant's limbs and digits were "all accounted for" at the end of filming, Bergeron says, with no injuries. "I told two of the eliminated dancers, 'You're leaving with a very special parting gift – your limbs,'" he says, pointing out that he saw "people faint, pop their ACLs, all kinds of crap" during his lengthy "DWTS" career. "Once you get out of bed, there's danger," he adds. Does 'Dancing With Sharks' promote or fight shark fear? Even with the shark jokes, Bergeon bites back at any criticism that "Dancing With Sharks" promotes or capitalizes on shark fear. The show is "a variation of what these professionals do in their careers every day with tour groups and scientific research," he says. "And the key point made to me from the onset was that fear of sharks, instilled in us from the movie 'Jaws' 50 years ago, is completely overblown." Bergeron said he learned about the misunderstood apex predators during the shoot and had his own distortions dispelled. "When I'm dieting and working out, I might have a cheat day. So I asked, 'Are human beings a cheat day for sharks?'" says Bergeron. "And they told me, 'No, it's not even that bad.'" No shark cages or spray tans, one diving-suit tuxedo There are no spray tans on this dancing show. Bergeron never went for the "DWTS" fake tan, anyway: "I decided to be the pasty white guy," he says. Longtime Shark Week correspondent and marine biologist Luke Tipple interviews the "Dancing" contestants on a boat while wearing a spiffy, specially designed James Bond-style tuxedo diving suit. Tipple also offers commentary while underwater, which is no easy feat. Shark cages are not permitted for swimmers in the open water. Bergeron never ventured off land, not even in a protective cage. "I had a coward clause in my contract," he says. The puns are lethal, and the trophy is 'sad' (but so was the 'DWTS' Mirrorball trophy) The Dad-joke-loving Bergeron insists he came up with his own shark puns. "Anytime you're talking about 'one of my chums' or you tell a wise-ass, 'Is that shark-asm?' It's all kind of natural," he says. "Have puns, will travel." The finale ends with the presentation of the "Dancing With Sharks" trophy, which Bergeron laughingly describes as "sad." "When they gave the trophy, I was like, 'Really?" But that's the same reaction I had with the 'Dancing With the Stars' trophy for years," he says of the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, now named after the famed judge who died in 2023. "They've given that more of a caché by naming it the Len Goodman Trophy now. But the trophy wasn't the point of the competition, really." Bergeron talks return to 'DWTS': 'The mirrorball is back in their court now' Bergeron was the host of "DWTS" when it premiered in 2005 but was fired, along with co-host Erin Andrews, in 2020 during a show overhaul. He promised to "never" return. But time heals all wounds, and Bergeron is pleased that his "good buddy," original executive producer Conrad Green, has returned to "DWTS." "He's been largely responsible for getting the show back on track," says Bergeron, who nonetheless declined Green's invitation to attend 2024's 500th episode episode celebration. "I said that I'd get too fidgety sitting in the audience." However, he and Green discussed a return in Season 34, due this fall. "We did have lunch, and we did talk, and I offered a scenario where I might come back for a night in a certain capacity," says Bergeron. "The mirrorball is back in their court now." How to watch 'Dancing With Sharks' and Shark Week Shark Week begins July 20 on the Discovery Channel with "Dancing With Sharks" (8 ET/PT) and runs through July 26. All Shark Week shows stream on Discovery+ and Max.
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Karen Byrne and Jake Carter celebrate their engagement at local pub
Dancing With The Stars judge Karen Byrne and her singer-songwriter fiancé Jake Carter recently marked their engagement with a bash at the local pub. The pair met in 2018 when Carter was partnered with professional dancer Byrne on the hit dancing show Dancing With the Stars. The couple got engaged in March this year when Carter surprised Byrne by getting down on one knee at the Dancing With the Stars studio, accompanied by their dog Lenny. Four months later, the couple celebrated their engagement with a shindig at the local pub alongside friends and family, and, of course, Lenny. Guests on the night included DWTS judge Brian Redmond, TV personality James Patrice, and TV producer Adam McGarry Byrne. Paralympian Jason Smyth, who lifted the glitterball trophy with Byrne on last year's show also attended the celebrations. Byrne posted about the special celebration on social media, sharing photos taken with her fiancé and their pup Lenny with the caption: 'What a night.' Carter also posted about the engagement part on his Instagram account, thanking photographer Andrew Heeney for capturing the evening, John Doherty for providing the entertainment, and all at The Foxhunter for looking after them so well. 'Here's to the next party,' he posted. Read More Country singer Lisa McHugh shares neurological disorder diagnosis
