Tom Bergeron, America's host of their Strictly Come Dancing equivalent -
Dancing With The Stars, has confessed to being a huge admirer of his British rival Bruce Forsyth.
Speaking at Hollywood's Paley Television Festival, Tom raved about Bruce's laid back style: "I like the fact that he's just so comfortable in his own skin. There was one time I saw him when the teleprompter wasn't working and he went 'come on deary, just hurry it along' and I thought that's perfect that you're that comfortable on live TV that you're just having a laugh."
The presenter also admitted that seeing the show's British version made him determined to host the show stateside: "They said look at a DVD of Strictly Come Dancing and I loved it. Ten minutes in, and you have to understand I didn't know anybody, but the spirit of it I really liked. It felt like a throwback to old-style variety."
Tom also said working with British judges Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli is a lot of fun: "The fact that there's this great chemistry among all of us - that I can relentlessly tease them and they know its all good fun and can direct it at me, I think that's part of what makes the show work. I remember Len got particularly cranky towards someone and I ad-libbed 'I'd like to give Len a 10 for his impression of a hardened artery'."
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