Former “Dancing with the Stars” host Tom Bergeron is saying “my bad” to Bobby Bones, who won the show’s 27th season.
It all started when Bergeron made some comments about Bones while speaking with Parade in an interview that published Tuesday, when he was asked which eliminations shocked him the most.
“You know, it’s funny, you’re asking about eliminations. The thing that shocked me most was a win,” he told the outlet, before pointing to Bones’ win with Sharna Burgess in season 27 in 2018.
He explained, “It’s like Andy Richter this season. He’s charming and has such a big heart. Do I think he’s going to win? No. Do I think he’s bringing a quality to the show that epitomizes what the show is? Absolutely.”
“But Bobby Bones was the first time it was like, ‘Ouch.’ No disrespect to Bobby. He would probably say the same thing,” he concluded.
Bones’ win was controversial because the radio personality was consistently near the bottom of the leaderboard and even had the lowest combined score of the final four couples. But he had a loyal fan base that voted consistently, pushing him ahead of his competitors, Milo Manheim and Evanna Lynch, who placed second and third, respectively.
On Wednesday, Bones made a TikTok addressing Bergeron’s comments, saying “I try not to get my feelings hurt, especially about stuff like this, but this was hurtful.” He added that the hurt wasn’t “because of what was said, but really who said it.”
Bones went on to explain he hadn’t planned on competing on the show, but because he was already working on a different ABC show, they asked him to participate as part of a cross promotion, and he agreed to do so.
The former “American Idol” mentor said the negativity around him and his win, even after seven years, is “crazy.”
“I had a great attitude. I worked hard, and here we are, like six years later, I’m still catching strays out of nowhere,” he said.
He also revealed he returned the Mirrorball trophy to ABC. “They don’t want me to be a part of the show, obviously. So I don’t wanna be somewhere that doesn’t want me to be there,” he said, noting that he doesn’t have the award anywhere with him.
At the end of the video, Bones lamented that he is upset by “people I respect like Tom Bergeron there and Julianne Hough taking random shots,” at him, saying they’ve basically “taken all the joy away from my time on the show.”
After Bones posted his video, Bergeron reached out to apologize personally.
“It wasn’t my intention to hurt your feelings,” Bergeron’s note began. “My ‘ouch’ was based on my honest feeling that your win spoke to a need to address the balance between judge and viewer voting.”
He continued, “I always felt bad that you and Sharna had to deal with the aftermath of that win and I certainly regret pouring any salt into that old wound.”
Bergeron added two different captions, saying “I was doing so many interviews leading up to the 20th [anniversary show] I was bound to say something inelegantly” with a facepalm emoji, as well as joking, “Sorry, Bobby. Sometimes I should fall back on my mime training.”
So far, there’s been no response from Bones to Bergeron’s apology.
