February 22, 2010
Melissa Rycroft Replaces Samantha Harris as Host of Dancing with the Stars 2010
Written by: John
Ever since Samantha Harris got kicked off left Dancing with the Stars there has been a lot of speculation about who will replace as Samantha as the co-host of Dancing with the Stars. I think the speculation is finally over, but here’s a review of the various possibilities in case you missed it.
We first talked about Melissa Rycroft hosting Dancing with the Stars at the beginning of this month. There were also rumors of Ashlan Gorse and Nancy O’Dell hosting Dancing with the Stars and Lynn Hoffman co-hosting DWTS alongside Tom Bergeron. There were also rumors about Brooke Burke, Marie Osmond (thank goodness this wasn’t true), and Paula Abdul. Luckily, last week E! News said there were only 3 serious contenders for the co-host position: Melissa Rycroft, Brooke Burke and Vanessa Minnillo.
Although, tonight during a commercial for the Bachelor finale, they talked about the announcement of the new Dancing with the Stars 2010 cast during the Bachelor finale. Heidi will be live blogging the announcement, but more on that soon.
What was most interesting about the commercial was that they said, “listen to Tom Bergeron and Melissa Rycroft as they announce the new couples on Dancing with the Stars.” Does this mean that Melissa Rycroft will be the host that’s replacing Samantha Harris on Dancing with the Stars? Seems like it to me. She’ll be a busy girl hosting Dancing with the Stars with Tom and as a special correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. Although, Samantha Harris did that for quite a while.
I think this will be a good thing for Dancing with the Stars. No doubt that Melissa Rycroft will be an upgrade at the host position.
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41 responses to "Melissa Rycroft Replaces Samantha Harris as Host of Dancing with the Stars 2010"
Be careful of getting too far ahead…screen tests don’t occur until Tuesday with perhaps some additional takes on Wednesday. NO decision will be made until those are complete. I want Melissa to be Samantha’s replacement in the worst way but I don’t want to get my hopes up only to have someone else show up in the role.
Producers would be wise to select Melissa. She is fun, fresh, and more engaging than the other two women.
Great news … IF it happens.
I did misread the final sentence as “Melissa Rycroft will be an upgrade at the HOT position.”
Probably a Freudian slip as Melissa would prove both hotter and hostier than the previous incumbent plus she’s a Cowboys fan!
Has anybody seen her present or host anything before? I’m in the UK and have only ever seen her on DWTS.
Colin
Not that I’m 100% sure that means she’s definite, but if so, YAY YAY YAY!!!!! I def wanted either her or Brooke ’cause they were my faves ftw in their seasons and they both seem to have great personalities!
Would be very harsh if Melissa got the one-off gig announcing DWTS 10 with Tom B then got bumped for – say – Brooke Burke for the actual DWTS show host.
Deja vu all over again for the ‘dumped’ Bachelor girl. But she has proved to have immense bouncebackability. You go girl!
Melissa would make a great co-host. C’mon DWTS producers … it’s as easy as .. well, as easy as A.B.C.
Colin
I’ve not seen her, but I’ve heard people say she’s horrible on Entertainment Tonight – no clue if that is actually true or just members of the “anti-Melissa” contingent airing their views. There’s a lot of that you might miss, being in the UK.
Having lived in the States for ten years (on and off) there’s a lot I miss being back in the UK
Not the same watching DWTS on a Friday with back2back shows. Makes for one long long evening. lol
And I can only get some of the dances on YouTube but not the same as watching live.
As for the vacant host{ess) spot I don’t really care who does it as long as they keep things rolling along. That position is probably the least important spot on the show – coming somewhere between Edyta’s personal legwarmer warmer upper and Len Goodman’s walnut pickler.
Colin
I’m not arguing for Sam to return, but I also think her detractors will miss her from time to time. I actually think her flubs were a bit of “reality” that made for the kind of unpredictability that folks like to anticipate. Samantha Harris is beautiful, upbeat, and well-intended. She’s been a part of the DWTS package and no where near as lame as the producers.
Wishing her happiness.
You might want to be careful here.. She’s announcing the cast with Tom, not because she’s the new host, it’s because a)she’s a correspondent for ABC and it’s being announced during The Bachelor, her former show.
Katrina,
You’re so right about Melissa being there because it’s being announced during the Bachelor. However, Colin is right that it would be cruel to have her do the one off gig and then have someone else host. I’ll stick with my prediction.
I dunno – I’m siding with Katrina. Since when do producers care about “cruel” – this is a group that is potentially bringing in a new pro at the expense of existing ones.
Maybe, just maybe, the cruel ABC producers are using the Bachelor announcement as a dress rehearsal for Melissa and DWTS. See how she handles that gig and gauge the public’s response to her and how she works with Tom.
Colin
or give her this gig and then dump her on National TV for the runner up – again. HAA!
her twitter update -
@MelRyStrickland: Thanks for all the support
I can't really say anything about anything…but I'm excited about announcing the cast with Tom!!
How can Melissa be the co-host when Brooke Burke said on her twitter that she is going for a screen test today for Dancing with the stars!!
I think she’s probably a nice person but her interview skills need work. That’s my own only issue with her. She can sound kind of dumb when she interviews at times.
Katrina,
Maybe that’s the producers desire. They want to cater to the stars to make sure the stars don’t look stupid by the interviewer. Oh wait, Samantha did a good job of that.
I think it would take a little time for Melissa to get it right, but she’d be serviceable. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t end up writing a post about how I wish she was gone.
No offense Heidi but I’m not exactly happy about this, nor am I a fan of Melissa Rycroft. Maybe the producers decided to have her announce the contestants with Tom because they have not yet decided who will be the co-host. I’m still hoping that it will be Brooke Burke. She’s a former champion and has the experience needed to fulfill a position like this one. If not her then I hope they rotate celebrity co-hosts. Would love to hear from some of the other contestants for a change. Lil Kim would be nice guest co-host at least all the pros, the judges and Tom seem to love her. Also think Laila Ali would be great as a guest co-host. Change it up a little. What’s up with all the promoting of Melissa anyway. Just saying!
Guess we will see soon enough.
Sorry Heidi! DWTS is my favorite show and they seem to be making a lot of changes and the season hasn’t even started. I’m sure it will be ok, at least I hope so.
I’m not sure it’s right to blame the producers and call them cruel for all this. I’m sure there are a lot of competing issues that they’re having to deal with and for all we know, maybe some of the male pros chose not to come back.
Ok, on second thought, this is show business and they probably could care less about the individuals involved. I’m still not sure cruel is the right word for the producers. Their actions might be cruel, but I don’t think their intent is to be cruel. I do think they’re probably heartless. You’d have to be to work in show business (from what I hear).
Dude, I SO don’t write everything on this site (unlike the other site where I do write everything
). That was John – not me. I don’t much care one way or the other who the new co-host is, although I guess I’m rooting for Brooke.
Is there a difference, at the end of the day, between cruel and heartless? I”m not real sure. All I know is that I work too hard and I”m still working now and I’ve lost track of who’s in and who’s out.
And actually, aren’t you the one that said it would be cruel to have Mel make the announcement and then not give her the job?? I was responding to that and saying they don’t care. Lots of shitty things happen in that business – but to leave pros waiting (Dmitry) with no solid answer?? At least give the boy a clue. Sucks. Seems very unnecessary.
I’m sure that they’re not “leaving the pros waiting” on purpose. If the pros don’t know yet, that probably means the stars are not yet finalized.
I am personally excited to see how Melissa does on Monday!! If she does really well then more power to her!! I’d be soo happy if she replaced Samantha!! IF she doesn’t do so well (which I doubt will happen, she is really good on Good Morning America, as well as ET, and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve), I guess it’s better to find out now then if they gave her the job. I personally love her and hope that she gets it!!
I guess I write like you Heidi. Or you write like me;-)
I’m with buttercup. They aren’t leaving him waiting for fun. They probably just haven’t finalized it or they’d have told them.
I’m wondering if they already have ideas of celebs for pros and they wait to see which celebs would sign? Perhaps some of the celebs would verbally say that they would do it… have a pro already assigned and it’s a matter of signing the contract… but at the last second they back out thus leaving their assigned pro out in the dust?
The screen tests were 8 hours ago, so maybe she did get the job.
Marianya – yeah, it seems to me that’s how it works.
I’m guessing that they don’t tell the pros either, because if the celeb says that they don’t want to spend that many hours with that pro then the show might look at different options. Just a thought.
The celebs don’t know who their pros are until after they sign the contract though… however they are able to make conditions prior to signing (like Kim Kardashian “requesting” for Mark, or Kelly Osbourne requesting someone that would kick her butt).
Marianya,
How do you know the Celebs don’t know their pro before they sign? I’m sure many won’t care, but a big enough celeb could definitely make that part of their contract I’d think.
For what it is worth, the celebs on Strictly Come Dancing here in the UK never know who their pro partner is until they meet for the first time on camera.
We had one embarrassed celeb who was asked which male pro she would like to dance with. She answered any of them … accept Brendan Cole – not caring for his well-publicized, womanizing ways. Guess who she met 60 seconds later! Ooops!!
I think the US celebs have a lot more say (and probably a more powerful agent) than their UK counterparts and can ask / demand who they dance with. Whether they get their choice is another matter.
For a lot of celebs being on DWTS is sometimes a career defining or rebuilding event – so they can’t leave anything to chance like being foisted on a badly matched partner.
Colin
I believe Marianya is right, and the celebs don’t know who their pros are. They are allowed to request but I doubt they are allowed to demand. Somebody who was that demanding right off the bat would be bad news for the producers and I don’t think they would want them on the show. They’re looking for people who are going to play along happily, not make demands left and right or decide to quit the show.
PLEASE, PLEASE NOT MELISSA RYECROFT.
WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE THAT
ACTING. PLEASE!
I was really happy to hear Samantha Harris was leaving DWTS…until I heard she may be replaced by Melissa Rycroft. Rycroft is about the only person I can think of who’s even more annoying than Harris.
John –
I apologize for the statement… I didn’t mean to state it as fact… but using context clues from various celebs (and I don’t trust what’s on camera) using different mediums… I really don’t think the producers would tell the celebs “you are with XX” before the contract’s been signed, after all they are trying to match celebs w/ pros and as thus need to know who is going to do it before assigning pros.
Thus far every celeb that mentions a bit of the meeting process has indicated on some level that they do not know who their pro is until within a day of their first rehearsal (if not the day of… I don’t necessarily trust that). And if that’s the case, that would mean that the celebs have already signed the contract agreeing to do the show prior to meeting the pro.
Granted there are exceptions… like Kelly Osbourne wanting someone that she can’t wrap around her finger… she mentioned that she requested that of the producers the day before she met her pro… But again she did this w/o knowing which pro she was originally matched up with.
So a lot of what I said is based on analysis with the clues presented thus far… blame the engineer in me =P
No worries Marianya. One thing I get use to as a blogger is getting called out if I’m not precise in my language. Sometimes I forget that people that comment aren’t use to that.
Nice comments. I think there are some clues that say that they might not find out very early and that the stars might not have a say. I think each one is negotiated individually.
However, I know a story about one pro being assigned a partner a week or two before the show and then a few days later getting his partnered swapped. Never heard why it happened, but it was a good illustration that the show is willing to make changes to the partners. So, I guess I helped make the argument that it might not be in their contract. lol
John –
I’m kind of curious which season your story pertains to? Because if it were early (like the first two years) then I think things have changed since then… like with all the tweeting and deletion of tweets?
Marianya,
Which story are you talking about? The one of the partners being switched was a few years back. In fact, before tweeting was popular I think.
John –
Yeah the one about partners being switched… b/c if it happened within the first two/three years of the show being on the air… I would suspect that practices behind the scenes would have changed in some part since then…
I for one will not watch the show if Melissa Ryecroft is the host. I have had enough of her “oh poor me” act. She was on The Bachelor for the publicity to get a career started, she somehow managed that, who knows how? If she really wanted to be married, why did she not marry her now husband that she was engaged to before, to begin with? I am definitely one of the Melissa non-fans.
There are so many deserving, appealing talented others out there that deserve to be host.
sorry about the typo Rycroft
Mellisa again? and then will it be Jake?
is bachelorette and bachelor a launching board?