ABCTom Bergeron is ready to say goodbye to one of his ABC shows.
Bergeron, who is also the host of Dancing With the Stars, announced that he will be stepping down as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos at the end of next season, its 25th cycle and his 15th with the series after taking over the position once held by Bob Saget in 2001.
But don't worry, there was no drama behind Bergeron's decision to exit AFHV, as the Emmy Award winner exclusively told E! News, "Next season will be the 25th year of the show and my 15th year as host of the show, so there was a certain symmetry to that that I liked. So it seemed like a perfect time to put a bow on it and pass the piñata stick to the new host, whoever that person ends up being."
Bergeron continued, "I have a great relationship with everybody there. It has no bearing on my relationship with the gang there because we hope to continue working together."
In fact, Bergeron and Todd Thicke, a co-executive producer on AFHV, have already pitched a live spinoff version of the show to ABC.
"A few months back, when I first broke the desire to the Videos producers that I wanted the next season to be my last season, Todd said, ‘We want to keep working together.' I said, ‘Absolutely,' and he said, ‘I got an idea," Bergeron explained. "And he started unveiling this idea, which I then said, ‘If it's live, which is what I love most, then I would do it and I think it could be a lot of fun.' So we'll see. It may be something that [the ABC executives] take a shine to, and if not, we'll be onto the next thing."
For now, Bergeron is focusing on "celebrating" the series' milestone 25th anniversary. While there's nothing specifically planned just yet, Bergeron said, "We talked about general things, like calling back bits I haven't done since my hair was brown. [Laughs.] And certainly clips of moments over the past 14 previous seasons. There will be a little nostalgia involved, I think."
But if he has any say, the longtime host actually wants to audition his potential replacements on the show. (Bergeron noted that AFHV currently has no specific replacement in mind as they are in "the early days" of the planning process.)
"I would love to actually audition people on the air so I could maybe just sit back, have a clipboard and watch them. [Laughs.] I referenced Doctor Who in my tweet and I even said to the gang at Videos that it's a good template because we can have fun with this," he said. "We can acknowledge that this whole transition is about happen and give viewers a sneak peek at who that person or who those people might be. And also, I think importantly to the core viewers of the show who've stayed loyal over the years, to let them know that this is something I instigated. I'm on board with it, I want the show to continue because these are all my friends."
Of course, Bergeron does have another show to host and he kicks off his 18th season with Dancing With the Stars this Monday.
Fans of the reality dancing competition can rest easy knowing the snarky Bergeron has no plans on leaving that series anytime soon, telling us, "I'll host that until they drag me out!"
Phew.