"Dancing with the Stars" host Tom Bergeron was standing next to Ryan Lochte and pro dancer Cheryl Burke as two men walked onto the ballroom performance floor on Monday night to protest the swimmer's inclusion in the celebrity competition.
On Tuesday, Bergeron spoke with about the incident, revealing even he had no idea what was going on until mid-way through Judge Carrie Ann Inaba's comments of Lochte and Burke's foxtrot.
"Look, it's not uncommon for there to be a lot of noise here, a lot of cheering, a lot of jeering when people don't like the judges' comments. It wasn't really until I saw Carrie Ann's expression change that I got the sense something more was going on and I turned. And honestly, by the time I saw the two guys coming with their T-shirts, our security team had them sucking floor. So it all happened very quickly and then my main concern was just how Ryan and Cheryl were and to try to get some control of the show so we could move forward once I knew that that had been taken care of," Bergeron told "GMA's" morning anchors.
Inaba was commenting on Lochte and Burke's dance (the camera was on the judge) when the men took to the stage in No Lochte shirts. They were quickly apprehended and removed from the ballroom by security.
Bergeron threw to commercial after the cameras panned back to the host.
On "GMA," Bergeron praised the "DWTS" security team.
"We have a very good security system here. There are metal detectors, bags are checked, et cetera. But, you know, I think our security did a great job in not assuming that just because these people wanted to be vocally protesting that they might not get physical as well," he said. "But I think all of us needed that couple of minutes to just kind of take a deep breath."
Bergeron said after the incident happened, "the mood in the room was definitely in Ryan's corner after these guys were escorted out."
Footage on "GMA" showed pro Derek Hough addressing a group of women in the audience who were also wearing No Lochte T-shirts. He told them to leave, adding, "This is a good show, a positive show."
Bergeron, at first, didn't see Hough leap into action.
"Not immediately. Then I heard Carrie Ann going, 'There are more. There are more,' and I turned to see Derek, you know, yelling for them to get out and more security went out there, and then my concern shifted to make sure Derek didn't get hurt because he leapt in defense of the show, which I love him for. And it was really, you know, times of crisis, if you will, certainly bring people together. In this case that certainly was true," the host said.
