Former Dancing with the Stars contestant and Queer Eye star Karamo Brown spoke out about Tyra Banks replacing Tom Bergeron on the ABC show and admitted he misses seeing the longtime co-host.
Karamo confirmed he’s been watching the new season and shared his thoughts on the shake-up in a new interview. He also reacted to the current host’s elimination flub last week.
“Tyra is doing great. I love her. She’s an icon, but I miss Tom on there,” he told Us Weekly .
“Tyra is so fresh and new and whatever. She’s doing a really good job because there are a lot of moving parts.”
It was announced in July that Tyra would be stepping in, despite Tom hosting the show since it began in 2005. Erin Andrews replaced Brooke Burke as his co-host in 2014.
Karamo shared support for Tyra after October 5’s very public blunder, which saw her call Monica Aldama and Val Chmerkovskiy back to the ballroom after she incorrectly announced they were safe from elimination.
The couple was actually in the bottom two alongside Anne Heche and Keo Motsepe, who were eliminated. Tyra later defended herself and blamed the awkward moment on a technical error, saying she did nothing wrong.
“The ending was correct. However, the journey was bumpy, based on some technical stuff,” she told USA Today , before addressing the issue again during the latest episode where she once more said the flub was due to a behind-the-scenes error.
Karamo said he thought she handled the situation well, despite receiving a wave of backlash from viewers.
“I’ve been there. I know those moving parts. The other day when that whole flood happened, I was like, bless her soul, because she handled that very well,” he said.
Karamo attempted to explain the issue, saying he thought she was probably told something in her ear by those behind-the-scenes that was different from the information she had on her cards.
The former Real World: Philadelphia star and Dr. Drew on Call correspondent competed on Season 28 of the dance competition last year alongside Jenna Johnson. They were the fourth couple eliminated.
Karamo said he’s been watching the current round closely and has been “amazed” by the talent this season. He said he’d been voting for Jenna, who’s dancing with Catfish ‘s Nev Schulman.
The latest episode saw a surprising elimination when former Desperate Housewives actor Jesse Metcalfe and professional partner Sharna Burgess were sent home. Both shared their disappointment, with Jesse admitting immediately after the show that he felt his journey had been “cut short.”