Dancing With the Stars’ former host was told to be ‘more pudgy’ before leaving show

The celebrities competing on Dancing With the Stars often tout how rigorous rehearsals and training help them shed pounds and feel more confident – but the show competitors receive different treatment from other members of the cast.

In fact, while pro dancers are also encouraged to keep themselves “toned and tanned” during the season the show’s hosts actually are not.

Samantha Harris, who co-hosted alongside Tom Bergeron from seasons two to nine, has revealed that contrary to what may be believed, she was once told to essentially make herself appear as different as possible from the pro dancers.

For her, that meant doing everything possible to not look as good as the rest of the show’s cast.

Harris, now 50, revealed the shocking things she was told while appearing on now-retired pro dancer Cheryl Burke’s podcast, Sex, Lies and Spray Tans.

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“I got actually called into a meeting and they said, ‘So Samantha, going to the next season…’ My interpretation was they said to me, ‘You need to be pasty and pudgy,’” she recalled.

She said that she was told viewers were confusing her “tan and toned” physique with that of the pro dancers, so she needed to be more “relatable,” which translated to no longer self-tanning and gaining weight.

Harris declined to name the producers who told her to do so, but admitted that at the time, it wasn’t an issue, as she was still in the early stages of pregnancy with her daughter, Josselyn, now 16.

“So, of course, I said, ‘OK,of course, no problem. I got that covered’ because little did they know–it was too early for me to share yet–I was pregnant, so I wasn’t going to be tanning because I didn’t know what the chemicals were that would be seeping into my body and I was gonna be gaining weight,” she said. “So there you go.”

Despite knowing that she could comply with the request, Harris still admitted to being stunned by it at the time.

Based on her daughter’s age, it appears Harris was asked to make the changes in 2007, when the show aired its fourth and fifth seasons.

She also revealed that when she left, she announced she wanted to focus on her duties at Entertainment Tonight but in fact, she had been told that producers wanted to change things up for the 10th season.

She was then replaced with Season 7 champion Brooke Burke, who hosted alongside Tom Bergeron through Season 17 and left in 2013. Erin Andrews, who placed third in Season 11, then took over the role before leaving with Bergeron after Season 28.

Tyra Banks became the show’s solo host in Seasons 29 and 30, and was joined by Alfonso Ribeiro for Season 31. She left the show after that, and the series was then hosted in Season 32 by Ribeiro and former pro, Julianne Hough.