Alfonso Ribeiro to co-host this season of Dancing With The Stars with Tyra Banks
The season 19 winner will share the spotlight with his former Fresh Prince co-star over on Disney Plus
Continuing his apparent mission to assume Tom Bergeron’s career, Alfonso Ribeiro will join Dancing With The Stars as a co-host for the upcoming 31st season of the show. He’ll share hosting duties with Tyra Banks, who has hosted solo for the past two seasons since Bergeron’s departure.
Ribeiro is a DWTS alum–he won the mirror ball trophy back in the 19th season. “Dancing With The Stars has been such an important part of my life for so many years, and I am ecstatic to officially re-join this tight-knit family as co-host,” he said in a statement (per Deadline). “Tyra and I have a longstanding friendship that I hope will resonate with all of the fans at home as we kick off this new season on Disney+.”
Banks may be one of the last true divas of pop culture, but she’s apparently not upset about sharing the spotlight with Ribeiro, with whom she co-starred on Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air back in the day. “I’ve known Alfonso since I was 19 years old and he always puts a smile on my face whenever I see him,” she said in her own statement. “Having such a fun-loving, longtime friend as co-host warms my heart. Plus, he’s won the competition before, so he knows exactly what the stars are going through. Bantering back and forth with him live is going to be so much fun!”
DWTS has been undergoing an overhaul since Banks was brought on. The new season will be the first live show to air exclusively on Disney+ after almost two decades on ABC. Deadline also reported that the show’s original executive reporter Conrad Green would return after the departure of EP Andrew Llinares.
Ribeiro, meanwhile, will do double-duty with DWTS and America’s Funniest Home Videos, which he took over from Bergeron back in 2015. Sensing a pattern yet? You’d better watch your back, Bergeron!