Bobby Bones isn’t dancing around his feelings.
After former Dancing With the Stars host Tom Bergeron admitting to being shocked by the radio personality’s season 27 win led to him deciding to return his Mirrorball trophy, Bobby revealed the comments dealt a major blow to his mental health and “soured” his feelings about his time on the competition.
“I love talking about it,” he shared on his Bobbycast podcast Nov. 22 while speaking to fellow DWTS winner Kaitlyn Bristowe. “I have such a great relationship with it. Most of my relationship with it is awesome. One of the greatest experiences of my life. It’s been soured by the hardcore fans of the show. I had minor meltdown about a week and a half ago because Tom Bergeron.”
Bobby (real name Bobby Estell) admitted that he “still loves” Tom but was blindsided by his comments, though mostly due to how the subject came up to begin with.
“I was so surprised at his reaction to the question of ‘Who’s one of the most surprising eliminations?’ They didn’t even ask him about me,” Bobby noted. “Had they said the question, ‘Who won that’s surprising?’ I’m all here.”
“I’m the most surprising ever, I know that,” he added. “I have total awareness of my entire situation. And he’s like, well I won’t answer that question, but I will tell you what is the most surprising win. You know, when Bobby won? Ouch.”
Bobby expressed that Tom’s comments ahead of his return to the DWTS ballroom for the 20th anniversary celebration, hurt his feelings “cause he was so helpful to me during the show,” he explained. “Because he knew I was struggling.”
Following his comments, Tom—who exited DWTS in 2019 after nearly 20 years as its host—offered a personal apology to Bobby, who won with partner Sharna Burgess.
“Bobby, it wasn’t my intention to hurt your feelings,” Tom wrote in the message posted to Instagram Nov. 13. “My ‘ouch’ was based on my honest feeling that your win spoke to a need to address the balance between judge and viewer voting.”
Amid Tom’s apology, Bobby shared that there’s no hard feelings towards him, despite the way he felt after hearing his comments, adding on his podcast, “I still love Tom, but that hurt my feelings so bad.”
And though Bobby is reminded by his unlikely win every time DWTS approaches its finale, he has no regrets about his time—and upon a recent rewatch even seems promise in his dance moves.
“I wasn’t as bad as everybody made me feel,” he maintained. “I was proud of myself in a different way because I wasn’t as bad as I was made to think I was.”
As for who will follow in Bobby’s footsteps as a DWTS champ? Fans will find out on Nov. 25, but until then, look back at all the stars who waltzed onto the dance floor for season 34.
Baron Davis
Partnered with Britt Stewart
Jennifer Affleck
Partnered with Jan Ravnik
Alix Earle
Partnered with Valentin Chmerkovski
Dylan Efron
Partnered with Daniella Karagach
Corey Feldman
Partnered with Jenna Johnson
Elaine Hendrix
Partnered with Alan Bersten
Robert Irwin
Partnered with Witney Carson
Jordan Chiles
Partnered with Ezra Sosa
Scott Hoying
Partnered with Rylee Arnold
Whitney Leavitt
Partnered with Mark Ballas
Hilaria Baldwin
Partnered with Gleb Savchenko
Andy Richter
Partnered with Emma Slater
Danielle Fishel
Partnered with Pasha Pashkov