‘Dancing With The Stars’ Host Tom Bergeron Teases Changes To Voting System For Season 28

Change is in the air for Dancing with the Stars. Tom Bergeron, the longtime host of the ABC celebrity ballroom competition, took to Twitter to reveal that he just attended the first meeting for Season 28 and that the major takeaway for fans is, “We hear you.”

While Bergeron was vague, he later addressed fan questions and comments about his post, most notably a complaint about how Season 27 of the show panned out last fall. Longtime Dancing fans were outraged when Fuller House star Juan Pablo Di Pace was eliminated from the competition after nabbing perfect scores, and they roared even louder when radio host Bobby Bones won last fall’s mirrorball trophy despite having the lowest scores on the Season 27 finale.

At the time of his premature elimination from Dancing with the Stars, Di Pace told TV Line he had received a lot of comments from fans who weren’t happy with the DWTS “system” and were demanding changes to the voting rules.

“So, yeah, 27 seasons later, maybe it is time for a refresh, a little nip and tuck. Maybe instead of being completely a popularity contest, it could actually be more of a skill contest.”

But in a Twitter response to a fan complaint about the voting system and Bones’ win, Bergeron wrote, “As I’ve often pointed out, @mrBobbyBones won fair & square based on the voting rules of the show at that time.”

Bergeron’s reference to “at that time” seems to hint that the voting system may be changed for the upcoming fall season of Dancing with the Stars.

Tom Bergeron has been vocal about some other changes he’d like to see on Dancing with the Stars. Earlier this year, the longtime ABC host tweeted a pitch to revive the results show, which was scrapped five years ago. The loss of the results show made for those controversial changes in the voting format as performance scores were then added to the viewer votes from the previous week, meaning a star could be sent home even if they gave a perfect performance because votes were based on a previous dance.

Bergeron shared an article written by TV historian Marc Berman in which it was proposed that ABC revive the DWTS results show, according to Gold Derby. In the article, Berman, aka Mr. TV, suggested that Dancing with the Stars air in its normal Monday night time slot as well as in a half-hour format on Tuesdays. Bergeron retweeted Berman’s article and then wrote that he wanted to “second” Mr. TV’s thoughts about a two-night Dancing with the Stars.

Either way, something is likely changing. Deadline reported that at the 2019 Disney press upfronts event last month, ABC Entertainment president Kasey Burke told reporters that ABC executives pitched “some really fun format changes” for Dancing with the Stars, so fans should stay tuned.

Dancing with the Stars returns to ABC this fall for Season 28.