When it comes to her role on Dancing With the Stars, Alfonso Ribeiro says Tyra Banks just missed a beat.
Two years after the America’s Next Top Model star exited the reality dancing competition as a host, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star, who now co-hosts the series with Julianne Hough, reflected on Banks' experience.
“Unfortunately for Tyra, she came onto the show during COVID,” Ribeiro explained in an interview with Parade published Sept. 28. “And not having the ability to connect with the celebrities and with the pros—how do you do that? It was always a two-person job. It became a one-woman show. So everything was on her to deliver everything when the show wasn’t designed that way.”
Ribeiro—who joined Banks as a DWTS host in 2022 before her exit the following year—added, “The show set her up for failure because there was no way for her to win.”
Plus, as the 54-year-old noted, Tom Bergeron—DWTS' original host who abruptly left the show in 2020—was a tough act for Banks to follow.
“You’re following Tom Bergeron, the best host on television, right?” Ribeiro explained. “You don’t have a co-partner, you don’t have anyone to bounce off of. It’s just you, which makes it about just you, right? Just by default.”
On top of the social distance mandates due to the COVID pandemic, Ribeiro emphasized just how difficult Banks’ years on DWTS had to be.
“Everything about her first two seasons was a setup for failure,” he continued. “Not that it was a failure, because the show still did well. But I feel like for the audience, they didn’t get to see what it felt like before because the setup was completely different.”
But despite Banks’ exit after just one year of sharing the screen with him, Ribeiro assured there is no bad blood between him and the 51-year-old.
“At the end of the day, I was friends with Tyra,” he added. “I still am friends with Tyra, and I respect Tyra immensely. She’s a wonderful person and performer.”
He posited that Banks was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“It sucks,” he said, “because could she have been the long-term host of the show if it had been a different time.”
E! News has reached out to ABC regarding Ribeiro’s comments but has not yet heard back.
For a deeper look into the latest season of DWTS, keep reading…
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