Alfonso Ribeiro Named New Host Of ABC’s ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’
Tom Bergeron is leaving America’s Funniest Home Videos, and he announced his replacement on the finale of Dancing With the Stars, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Alfonso Ribeiro will be the next host of the ABC series that has aired for 25 years, according to E! Online.
Bergeron, the show’s longest running host, announced in March, 2014 that he would leave AFV at the end of its current season after hosting for 15 years. He will continue hosting Dancing With the Stars.
Alfonso Ribeiro is best known as Carlton Banks on the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Ribeiro, who won the ABC dancing competition last season with Witney Carson, returned to the reality series for the passing of the baton and to dance with Sadie Robertson.
Executive producer Vin Di Bona was delighted to make the selection from five finalists.
“After receiving hundreds of inquiries, stacks of video submissions and a very close audition race, one smile, one funny and sincere delivery become our standout favorite—Alfonso Ribeiro. We look forward to Alfonso leading AFV into the next generation of family friendly viewership.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnCl9bn_Rhc
Ribeiro, who has an existing relationship with the network and with Bergeron from his time on Dancing With the Stars, stood out as a likely candidate. He’s also no stranger to hosting. His most recent gigs include the Cooking Channel’s Unwrapped 2.0, ABC Family’s Spell-Mageddon, and GSN’s Catch 21.
Ribeiro will be the fourth person to host the humorous video competition series. Full House alum Bob Saget kicked off the Vin Di Bona-created show in 1989 and stayed for eight seasons. John Fugelsang and Daisy Fuentes both lasted two years before Bergeron came on board.
Ribeiro said his style of hosting AFV will not be much different from the way the others have hosted the show; however, he did say he would bring his own energy to AFV.
“I’m just going to bring my energy. I have a high energy and a lot of creative ideas in terms of dancing and singing, and maybe I’ll use some of those abilities to introduce some of our videos. We’ll just bring my vibe to it.”
America’s Funniest Home Videos is a family show that features humorous homemade videos that are submitted by viewers. The most common videos submitted are unintentional physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents, and mishaps of pets, children, and some staged practical jokes.
America’s Funniest Home Videos will go into its 26th season later this year. It is ABC’s longest-running primetime entertainment show that will air on Sunday nights at 7 p.m.
[Image via Getty Images]
