Alfonso Ribeiro Spoke to Tom Bergeron About His ‘DWTS’ Cohosting Gig Ahead of Time: ‘We Have Enough Respect for Each Other’
14.09.2022 - 00:01
/ usmagazine.com
Giving a heads up. Before Alfonso Ribeiro was announced as the Dancing With the Stars cohost for season 31, the actor made sure to reach out to OG host Tom Bergeron about the opportunity.
“We have talked. I wouldn’t say that he gave advice because [it would be] essentially the same advice he offered me when I was doing American’s Funniest Videos, which was ‘Be you,'” Ribeiro, 50, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, September 13, while promoting his partnership with The Original Donut Shop. “We have enough respect for each other that I wanted to talk to him as a friend. I wanted to let him know how it went down [with] all the love and respect that I have for Tom.”
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum, who will be cohosting alongside Tyra Banks, noted that Bergeron’s career has been a blueprint for his own professional aspirations.
“He will always be near and dear to my heart in every way. I continue to say that I’m building my career on what Tom Bergeron leaves behind,” Ribeiro quipped about the TV personality, 67, who hosted DWTS from 2005 to 2020. “I’m very upset that he doesn’t have a big job right now because when all this ends, I got to go to the next job.”
The New York native added: “I keep joking with him about it. I’m like, ‘Dude, I need you to get something big because then that’s my next job.'”
After winning season 19 of Dancing With the Stars with Witney Carson, Ribeiro admitted that he wasn’t expecting another offer from the show.
“I had no clue what was coming,” he explained to Us. “All of a sudden, I’m on a road trip in my RV somewhere on the east coast and I get a phone call saying, ‘Hey, can you hop on a call tomorrow morning? We want to talk about you being one of our hosts.’ And I was [ready to say] ‘OK.’ There