Samantha Harris spoke out about her experience on Dancing With the Stars . The 50-year-old TV personality co-hosted the ABC competition series with Tom Bergeron from season two to season nine. In the most recent Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast episode, Harris informed the host and former DWTS contestant Cheryl Burke that she was not invited back for season 10 and that they were looking for some fresh energy for the program. Harris said she once had a meeting with executives to address a concern about her appearance—that is, that she was ‘getting too tan and too toned.’
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As reported by US Weekly , Harris clarified, saying that ‘in actuality,’ she didn’t choose to leave DWTS . She said she received a call from an ABC official who said, “Look, we’re going into season 10, and the network executives have decided they need something to look different on the show. They need something really different to keep eyeballs watching.” She further added, “Unfortunately, that meant I was the one who had to take the axe.”
Harris said that she was previously urged to put on weight before she revealed to ABC that she was expecting her first child, whom she welcomed in 2007. She told Burke during the podcast, “My interpretation was they said to me, ‘You need to be pasty and pudgy,’ but really what they said to me was, ‘You’re getting too tan and too toned.'” She also said that a few ‘higher-ups’ told her, “We need you to stop doing any self-tanning. I was actually told to gain weight. Little did they know I was pregnant. I was going to be gaining weight.”
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Harris attended the Dancing with the Stars tenth-anniversary event on April 21, 2015, at Greystone Manor in West Hollywood, California. In her remarks on her exit from the program, Harris made it clear that she did not want to quit DWTS and that it was tough for her to tell her tale. Bergeron was an excellent partner on the program and an ABC host for a long time, thus, Harris noted that his removal was unexpected. Harris felt that she was the one to lose out when Tyra Banks took on as co-host for season 29 in July 2020, replacing Bergeron and Erin Andrews. Harris said that there have been other awkward times when she hosted the program.
In 2010, she confirmed to US Weekly her departure from the show and said at the time, “I’ve loved every aspect of my time at Dancing With The Stars . I’ve lived and breathed this incredible show for the last eight seasons, making lifelong friends along the way. It has given me so many wonderful opportunities. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Samantha. She will be much missed, but always part of the DWTS family. We support her and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”