Chris Brown's brutal swipe at Channel 10 in Dancing With The Stars premiere

Following weeks of promotion, the new season of Dancing With The Stars kicked off on Sunday night with longtime host Sonia Kruger presenting alongside Chris Brown for the very first time. The former Bondi Vet star left Channel 10 to join Seven exactly one year ago and currently hosts both the dancing competition and the renovation series Dream Home on the network.

While things appeared to end amicably between Chris and Channel 10, with the presenter being sent off with a sweet tribute on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! last year, he couldn’t help but take a dig at his former network in the premiere episode of Dancing With The Stars.

At the beginning of the episode, Sonia explained that all of the contestants were safe and “no one’s going home tonight”. After Chris jokingly misunderstood that he was also “safe” and couldn’t be fired on night one of his new gig, Sonia asserted that only the dancers could be voted off and she and Chris were “as safe as anyone can be in entertainment”.

“Shout out to Channel 10,” Chris remarked, leaving the audience in stitches.

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The comment was likely a reference to Chris’ former employer axing a handful of shows over the past few months, subsequently leaving several high-profile TV personalities out of work.

The network confirmed in May that both The Bachelor and The Masked Singer wouldn’t be returning in 2024, while Yahoo Lifestyle exclusively revealed that the reboot of Gladiators had also been cancelled after one season.

Chris addresses 'rivalry' with Better Homes and Gardens star

Elsewhere in the premiere episode, Chris made reference to the fact that his former role on Channel 10’s The Living Room made him “rivals” with DWTS contestant and Better Homes and Gardens presenter Adam Dovile.

“Now Adam, we do need to address the elephant in the room,” he said. “We were TV rivals for many, many years in the cutthroat vicious world of Friday night lifestyle television.

“It’s hard to even look you in the eye, the fury is so deep. But I can’t stay angry at you, look at that smile!”

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Sonia also made several digs throughout the episode, including one at former judge Todd McKenney who stepped back from the show this year.

Lisa McCune’s dance partner Ian Waite joked that the reason he appears on both Dancing With The Stars in Australia and Strictly Come Dancing in the UK is because he's on a dancing exchange program and they’re “sending the rejects back there”.

“Is that where Todd’s gone?” Sonia remarked.

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