‘Dancing the Stars’: Tyra Banks Speaks out on Alfonso Ribeiro Being Named Co-Host

Tyra Banks will no longer host Dancing With the Stars solo, and now she’s speaking out about her new co-host. On Wednesday night, Alfonso Ribeiro was publicly revealed to be joining the dance competition as a new emcee alongside Banks. The two previously worked together on several episodes of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Banks looked back on those times when speaking out on the news.

“So excited to finally reveal this!” Banks wrote on Instagram alongside a Fresh Prince throwback photo. “I’m reuniting with a very special someone I worked with when I was just 19 years old! [Alfonso Ribiero] is joining me in the [Dancing With the Stars] ballroom as my co-host on [Disney+]! I can’t wait to stream live [and] have crazy fun [with] him!”

As for Ribeiro, he is also excited that he’s rejoining the DWTS franchise. In 2014, he won Season 19 of the DWTS alongside his pro partner, Witney Carson, and has appeared numerous times since in a guest capacity. This co-host gig, which coincides with the show moving from ABC to Disney+, is a chance for the America’s Funniest Home Videos host to “be part of that family again.”

“I’m super excited,” Ribeiro told PEOPLE. “For me to be asked now to co-host with Tyra, and be part of the great crew and dancers and friends … to be able to be on stage with them and to be part of that family again, is quite special for me. I mean, these dancers are friends of mine at this point now. We really do all hang out together, and talk outside of that show.

“My goal is to bring back a sense of the happy and the fun, and the family atmosphere, that this show has always felt like for me. I want to become friends with all of the contestants this year, and allow myself to kind of be able to really just sit and talk with them. And after their dance, I want to get honest, and true feelings from them and make people laugh and make people smile again. I feel like sometimes it gets a little serious and while it needs to be that also, it also needs to be light and fun and cheery.”