Alfonso Ribeiro Credits Social Media for DWTS Most-Watched Season
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- Alfonso Ribeiro has hosted "Dancing With the Stars" since Season 31 in 2022 and credits the show's live format with preventing manipulation, saying it creates a "safe space" for celebrities to share genuine emotion
- Season 34, which aired on ABC in the fall, became the most-watched season in several years, and Ribeiro attributes part of that to social-media "watercooler moments" replacing the traditional post-show conversations
- Ribeiro acknowledged that women on the show faced heavy online bullying this season, calling the phenomenon "a societal question" rather than a show-specific one, and advising cast to treat it as "just noise"
- Showrunner Conrad Green returned to the series in Season 31 after departing following Season 18 in 2014, with Ribeiro saying Green was "making sure that he brought the heart back to the show"
- Former host Tom Bergeron made his first ballroom appearance since his 2020 firing when he returned as a guest judge for the show's 20th anniversary episode in November, with Ribeiro saying he was "more than OK" with the cameo
- Ribeiro, who won Season 19 in 2014 with partner Witney Carson (who won again this season with Robert Irwin), said he has no plans to compete again because "that would mean someone else would have to be the host, and I kind of like the job"
Why it matters: Ribeiro's framing positions DWTS as uniquely authentic in the reality-TV landscape because it airs live — a distinction he leverages to defend the show against both scripted-reality comparisons and the online harassment targeting its female contestants, a problem he concedes has no easy answer. The 20th-anniversary Bergeron's guest-judge cameo also signals the network is willing to publicly reconcile with a host it fired four years earlier, suggesting goodwill outweighs lingering tensions.
