Samantha Harris Leaving 'Dancing With the Stars'

Samantha Harris leaving 'Dancing With the Stars.'

"I'm going to miss Samantha," says co-host Tom Bergeron.

It was a tough decision, she says, but Samantha Harris has decided to take her bow from Dancing With the Stars. Harris' leave is immediate, as she won't be around participate in the Dancing's new season which kicks off in March -- here's why.

Samantha Harris wants to focus on her more journalism-related projects such as on CBS' The Insider and Entertainment Tonight Weekend. To explain her Dancing With the Stars exit, Harris has said, "I interned at Entertainment Tonight 15 years ago, the summer after my sophomore year at Northwestern and I dreamed of working in the same space as hosts Mary Hart and Mark Steines and now I'm living that dream."

Make no mistake: things at DWTS were still happy; says exec producer Conrad Green, "Samantha has been a brilliant part of [DWTS] and we wish her the best of luck on The Insider. She's done an incredible job. Some of the most memorable moments on the show have been facilitated by Samantha. I think we'll all walk away with enormous happy memories of working with one another."

Dancing co-host Tom Bergeron told People.com his idea to keep Samantha Harris on the show: "I'm hoping this frees her up for us to have her as a contestant." And then, all jokes aside, Bergeron added, "I'm going to miss Samantha. We had a nice rapport off-camera and on. I could see that her workload was picking up on The Insider and then she started doing Entertainment Tonight Weekend. As somebody who's been known to juggle a few jobs myself, I know that that can pull you in eight different directions."

LimeLife had a hint that Samantha Harris was getting busy. Remember her November LimeLife interview during which she got her makeup done and ate lunch at the same time? No wonder the working mom looks so good -- here are her secrets!

Plus is Paula Abdul taking Harris' place on Dancing With the Stars? Possibly -- we had the first scoop here.