Samantha Harris detailed her 2010 Dancing With the Stars exit — and claimed it didn’t happen the way fans think.
“Season 9 concluded. I just bought a new house. We just bought a timeshare because things were going well,” Harris, 50, recalled of her DWTS departure during the Sunday, December 10, episode of the “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” podcast. “Then I got that call we never want to hear.”
Harris — who cohosted DWTS with Tom Bergeron from season 2 to season 9 — claimed that she was informed by the ABC executives that they were switching things up for season 10. However, at the time, she agreed to tell the press a different story.
“The public story that I told at that time with the blessing of ABC, which was true, I was at Entertainment Tonight and they needed me more,” Harris said, noting she was asked by ET to travel more for her journalism gig, which she was happy to do.
While Harris said it was her “choice” to announce she was leaving DWTS to “focus” on her ET responsibilities, the ABC dance series was her “dream job” that she would’ve “happily” done full-time.
Samantha Harris attends the 10th anniversary of ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ at Greystone Manor on April 21, 2015 in West Hollywood, California. David Livingston/Getty Images
“That was painful to tell that story [about my exit],” Harris explained, adding that “in reality” it wasn’t her decision to say goodbye to DWTS. She claimed that an executive at ABC called and told her, “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.”
The journalist alleged that what the network decided to do was cut one of the faces of the show. “Tom had been a longtime ABC [host],” Harris recalled, noting that while Bergeron was “a great partner on the show” he didn’t seem to be in jeopardy of losing his job when she was on the series. (Bergeron, 68, was fired in July 2020 alongside then-cohost Erin Andrews and replaced by Tyra Banks for season 29.)
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“Unfortunately, that meant I was the one who had to take the axe,” Harris said, revealing elsewhere in the podcast that her departure wasn’t the only uncomfortable moment she had while hosting.
Harris claimed that before she told ABC she was pregnant with her first child, whom she welcomed in 2007, she was advised to gain weight.
“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,’” Harris told podcast host Cheryl Burke, alleging that the execs said that it was “confusing” to viewers because she looked too much like the dancers on camera.
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She further claimed that the higher-ups told her, “We need you to stop doing any self-tanning” before commenting on her size. “I was actually told to gain weight. Little did they know I was pregnant. I was going to be gaining weight,” Harris explained, noting she was “absolutely stunned” by the alleged remarks.
When Harris did share that she was pregnant, she said the network was “amazing” with her and made sure to help her have an easier schedule.
Since Harris’ DWTS departure, there have been several changes in the hosting seat. The current emcees are Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro, who concluded season 32 earlier this month.
