Tom Bergeron’s ‘Excited’ Alfonso Ribeiro Is New ‘DWTS’ Co-Host: ‘He Has My Blessing’

It’s each emotion successful and retired of the ballroom. Former DWTS big Tom Bergeron is revealing his absorption to the show’s caller co-host Alfonso Ribeiro. “I’m precise excited astir that,” Tom told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY astatine the Cool Comedy Hot Cuisine tribute lawsuit to Bob Saget connected September 22. “Between Alfonso being determination and my archetypal showrunner Conrad Green, I deliberation the 2 of them unneurotic volition bring that amusement backmost to the benignant of consciousness it should.”

Tyra Banks and Alfonso Ribeiro, the co-hosts of ‘DWTS’ play 31. (Disney+)

Tom was ousted arsenic the big of Dancing With the Stars aft 28 seasons and replaced with Tyra Banks up of play 29. Alfonso, who won DWTS play 19, joined the amusement arsenic Tyra’s caller co-host for play 31. Tom revealed that Alfonso called him earlier the co-host quality went live.

“We had a large speech astir it. We truly did, and helium knows helium has my blessing,” Tom said. Alfonso notably took implicit hosting duties from Tom with America’s Funniest Home Videos aft Tom’s retirement.

Season 31 premiered connected Disney+, making it the archetypal bid to aerial unrecorded connected the streaming service. Alfonso was close astatine location successful the DWTS skybox interviewing contestants and their partners.

Tom came unneurotic with respective of Bob’s friends and widow Kelly Rizzo to grant the comedian, who suddenly passed away successful January 2022 from accidental blunt caput trauma. Tom and Bob were longtime friends.

Tom Bergeron with Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson successful play 19. (Everett Collection)

“It means a batch to observe his beingness and the fantastic enactment helium did with his enactment [the Scleroderma Research Foundation], but also, helium was a friend,” Tom told HollywoodLife. “We were Video brothers from different mother. This lawsuit immoderate years agone was the archetypal lawsuit wherever I tried to deterioration him down and get him to co-host the 25th day of AFV with me, which helium yet did. We had a fantastic time, truthful this has a batch of fantastic resonance for me.”

In looking backmost connected his memories with Bob, Tom loved the times erstwhile Bob was conscionable “being a wiseass and mensch, too. Anybody who saw his standup enactment and saw him on AFV or Full House would deliberation he’s 2 antithetic people, but helium wasn’t. He was a well-rounded entertainer and a precise saccharine man.”