Tyra Banks Announces Exit From ‘Dancing With the Stars’: Why She’s Leaving as Host

She’s out! Tyra Banks announced she was leaving her role as host of Dancing With the Stars after three years to pursue her other business endeavors.

“From the ballroom to the board room, baby!” the model, 49, told TMZ in an interview published on Friday, March 17, about her exit from the reality dance competition. Keep reading for details about Tyra leaving DWTS.

Why Is Tyra Banks Leaving ‘Dancing With the Stars’?

“I’m an entrepreneur at heart … I think my heart, my soul is into my business,” the America’s Next Top Model creator explained, adding that she’s “crazy focused” on her ice cream brand, SMiZE & Dream. “It’s also in producing new TV, which we’re working on … but I really, really want to focus on my business, and you can’t do that hosting a show. But you’ll see me creating things not just hosting things. So we got some big things.”
 

When Did Tyra Banks Start Hosting ‘Dancing With the Stars’?

Tyra became host and executive producer of DWTS before season 29 in 2020 after longtime cohosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews were ousted. She was joined by Alfonso Ribeiro as cohost during season 31.

The California native did not reveal if she would stay signed on as executive producer after her exit, but she did tease that she would be keeping her hand in television. 

“I feel it’s time for me to really focus on my business and my entrepreneurship. And also producing more TV — but behind the scenes,” she said. “I think it’s time to graduate from the dance floor to the stock market floor.”

When Tyra became host of the reality dance show in 2020, she said she had been “a fan” of the series since the “beginning.”

“The fun mixed with raw emotion, seeing celebrities push past their comfort zones, the sizzling dance performances,” she wrote in a statement at the time about the show shake-up. “It’s always transported me to my days of turning it up 10 notches on the catwalk. Tom has set a powerful stage, and I’m excited to continue the legacy and put on my executive producer and hosting hats.”

It was no secret that Tom, 67, and Erin’s exits from the show were less than amicable, with Hollywood Squares alum claiming that there were “personnel changes behind the scenes” that led to the decision.

“Those people and I did not see eye-to-eye about how best to present the show,” the former America’s Funniest Home Videos host said during an appearance on late comedian Bob Saget’s podcast in 2021. He noted specifically casting political personalities was a point of contention.

Tom said he felt like DWTS should be “an oasis, for two hours every week, from all of the nonsense and the divisiveness going on right now, and let’s not put political people in there,” but other producers did not agree.