'Dancing With the Stars': Spotlight on Tom Bergeron

When more than 39 million viewers tuned in for the premiere of Dancing With the Stars, co-host Tom Bergeron was once again in the midst of all the action, much to the delight of fans. So, why is the handsome host so popular on one of ABC’s biggest hits? One reason is that Tom Bergeron is the master of unscripted banter.

Emmy Award-winning host Tom Bergeron began his broadcasting career in 1972 in his hometown of Haverhill, MA, at the tender age of 17. Somehow he managed to convince the radio station manager of WHAV that he was really 33. Lucky for him he was prematurely gray! Bergeron spent over a decade with WBZ-TV in Boston, hosting a number of popular shows. In 1994 he became host of Breakfast Time on fX. The show morphed into Fox After Breakfast and moved to the FOX network, but it was canceled after one season.

Deftly dodging unemployment, Bergeron became a fill-in anchor on Good Morning America in 1997, a position he held until moving on to Hollywood Squares in 1998. While hosting Hollywood Squares, Bergeron multi-tasked his way into a fill-in anchor gig on CBS’s The Early Show and also began hosting ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos. Whew!

Bergeron tells the inside story of his start in local radio at age 17, move into improvisational theater, and rise to hosting high-profile gigs in his memoir I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can! Zen and the Art of Staying Sane in Hollywood. It talks about the trying and laugh-out-loud journey that Bergeron took to get to know himself, including the ways he found to cope with balancing work, family and dreams. Bergeron is married and has two daughters. He lives in Los Angeles and Greenwich, Connecticut.

Tom Bergeron recently joined Twitter and already has close to 14,000 followers. His most recent tweets reveal his thoughts on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.

• “Really happy with last night and, based on the ratings, so were the viewers. Love having Brooke Burke with me. I'm a lucky host!”
• “Pam Anderson sends me hurtling back thru puberty!”
• “The sky box or, as we've already dubbed it, the "Celebriquarium," actually looks great. And I was dubious too, at first. Not now.”
• “At DWTS rehearsals. Great energy here! The set, music & graphics have never looked better.”

Related articles about season ten of Dancing With the Stars:

• ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Spotlight on Brooke Burke
• ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Spotlight on Carrie Ann Inaba
• ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Spotlight on Len Goodman
• ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Spotlight on Bruno Tonioli
• ‘Dancing With the Stars’ unveils new changes for season ten

Do you love reality TV? Then be sure to check out my coverage of:

• Dancing With the Stars
• The Bachelor
• American Idol
• Celebrity Apprentice

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