Over the past few weeks, fans have been expressing outrage that supermodel Tyra Banks replaced Tom Bergeron as host of “Dancing With The Stars.” This criticism of Banks only escalated last week, after she botched the latest elimination of the ABC reality show, leading fans to say once again that she is not as talented as Bergeron.

Now, Banks is speaking out to defiantly say that she is ignoring critics who don’t like her hosting skills, adding that she pays no attention to negative commentary.

“I know it exists, but what good does that do, participating in that?” Banks told USA Today. “I don’t think there’s anything really positive from that.”

However, the supermodel added that she can understand the sense of familiarity that viewers had with Bergeron’s version of “Dancing With The Stars,” which he had hosted ever since it premiered in 2005 until he was abruptly fired this past July.

“Change is hard, change is complicated, change is painful sometimes,” she said. “So I respect their challenge with change, but I also respect the multiple millions more people that are coming and watching the show with the changes too.”

Banks explained that she had watched the show from the very beginning, and that she “sat on” the ABC’s offer to join “Dancing With The Stars” “for quite a while,” describing the show as “a legacy” and “Americana.”

“It took me a while, because I knew that it was gonna be a big deal if I were to say yes to it,” she recalled. Banks added that she was convinced to take the job by her mother, who advised, “You just gotta make sure you can add your own special sizzle to it. You can’t just step in. You have to bring your thing to it.”

Banks concluded by saying that while she admits that Bergeron left  “big shoes to fill,” she loves a challenge.

“His (comedic) timing’s impeccable,” she said of Bergeron. “I know that when you come into something that has been around for a long time, some people are not going to be comfortable with that. But obviously I still took the opportunity. That’s just who I am. I go toward risk. I go toward putting myself out there. I go toward taking a chance.”

This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.

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