Tom Bergeron is walking back a misstep.
After the former Dancing With the Stars host called Bobby Bones’ 2018 Mirrorball win the most shocking of his career—telling Parade he thought, “Ouch,” when Bobby won— the radio personality (real name Bobby Estell) expressed hurt over the public callout and shared his intention to return his trophy.
In response, Tom directly addressed the former contestant with a message of regret.
“Sorry, Bobby,” Tom wrote in a Nov. 13 Instagram post. “Sometimes I should fall back on my mime training.”
Alongside the comment, the former America’s Funniest Home Videos star included a screenshot of a personal note he wrote to The Bobby Bones Show star.
“Bobby, it wasn’t my intention to hurt your feelings,” Tom wrote in the message. “My ‘ouch’ was based on my honest feeling that your win spoke to a need to address the balance between judge and viewer voting.”
The 70-year-old—who exited DWTS in 2019 after nearly 20 years as its host—emphasized that his reaction to Bobby’s win was more about how he knew the audience would feel, also expressing empathy for his professional partner Sharna Burgess.
“I always felt bad that you and Sharna had to deal with the aftermath of that win,” he explained. “I certainly regret pouring any salt into that old wound.”
Tom further expressed disappointment in himself for his slip up, adding in text over the screenshot, “I was doing so many interviews leading up to the 20th I was bound to say something inelegantly.”
Indeed, shortly after the interview went live, Bobby slammed Tom’s comments, and announced he had returned the Mirrorball trophy, which he received over runners-up Milo Manheim and Witney Carson.
“I had a great attitude,” Bobby expressed in a Nov. 12 Instagram post. “I worked hard and here we are six years later, I'm still catching strays out of nowhere, so I sent the trophy back. They don't want me to be a part of the show, obviously.”
Meanwhile, Milo admitted as recently as this year that while he still feels “robbed” by his experience on the show—ABC has since made changes to how they calculate a participant’s score—he held no animosity toward the season’s winner, noting that second place was a “better” outcome.
“People come up all the time now, and they're just like, ‘You killed Dancing with the Stars,’” he said on The Zack Sang Show in July. “And I don't think I would be getting that validation had I won. So, it's really nice.”
For more Dancing With the Stars feuds, keep reading...
Kaitlyn Bristowe vs. Carrie Ann Inaba
Things got thorny in the ballroom after the longtime judge claimed she was being "bullied" by fans of the former Bachelorette.
"I still get bullied. Right about this time is when people start to bully me because of the way I judge people," Carrie Ann said on The Talk following the Nov. 2, 2020, episode of the ABC reality competition. "I can't believe it still happens as adults."
After Kaitlyn's performance with professional partner Artem Chigvintsev, Carrie Ann called the pair out for doing a lift during their jive, which is against the rules.
"I'm a little torn right now... Can you do a back-tap on your own," she asked Kaitlyn. "I'm going to call that a lift." She ended up deducting points from their performance.
After her dance, Kaitlyn admitted to Entertainment Tonight she was taken aback by Carrie Ann's comments, saying, "Is it from a place where you believe in us and you want us to do better," she questioned. "Is it coming from a place of, 'I was hard on Hannah [Brown] and you're another Bachelor girl'? Where is it coming from and how are we supposed to take it and bring it into our next rehearsal? What do you want us to channel and use from it?'"
Artem added the critiques from Carrie Ann felt "personal" and that he felt like they are "never going to make [Carrie Ann] happy."
Mischa Barton vs. Artem Chigvintsev
The O.C. star clearly didn't enjoy her very short stint in season 22, with viewers noticing the tension between her and her pro partner right away.
"I had no idea it would be so bad. I got told off by my dancer," she said in a later interview with The Ringer. "I was supposed to control the costumes, I was told that I could do the design aspect of it, that's kind of the reason why I agreed to do it. That didn't happen."
Ian Ziering vs. Cheryl Burke
Cheryl revealed the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, who was her season four celeb, was her least favorite partner ever.
"My least favorite [partner] would be Ian Ziering," she confessed on Matt Weiss and Theo Von's "Allegedly" podcast. "The fact that his name is not EE-AN and it's EYE-AN makes me want to throw up."
She continued, "I was like crying to executives. I was like is there any way to please to just eliminate us? They're like we can't. We can't do that and I swear, every time I asked, we just kept going. We would last till the end."
Amber Rose vs. Julianne Hough
In season 23, the contestant admitted to feeling body shamed by the judge, saying on her podcast, "Me, and my body, my hips, my ass, my breasts made her uncomfortable."
But the pair addressed the issue during an episode after Julianne apologized and clarified her comments, telling E! News, "My ‘uncomfortable' comment was about the fact that I felt like I wanted more out of the performance—when someone is doing a hot, sexy dance like that without the right amount of energy that is required, it can be uncomfortable to watch. Trust me I'm ALL for a sexy booty dance!! We all know that!! And any kind of body shaming goes against everything I believe in."
Amber also apologized, saying, "When you said ['I feel a little uncomfortable'], I felt very embarrassed. And I felt like you weren't talking about my dance. But if I misunderstood, then I apologize."
Kirstie Alley vs. Maksim Chmerkovskiy
While the duo became fast friends when they were partnered in season 12 (and again for the All-Star season), Maks later claimed Scientology got in the way of their friendship.
"She stopped getting along with me," he said on Watch What Happens Live in 2014. "We had a great relationship...But I got a message now that I am associating with other people that she can't be associated with, I am no longer to be spoken with, and sorry, but it is what it is...I think the world of her. I'm not judging people by their religion. I'm Jewish. I don't really believe in science fiction, but whatever."
In response, Kirstie wrote that her former partner has "ass raped" her with the comments.
Hope Solo vs. Maksim Chmerkovskiy
The famous soccer player and her professional partner did NOT get along when they were paired together in season 13, with Hope later alleging in her memoir that he slapped her during rehearsals. She also wrote that ABC that offered to pair her with another dancer but that she declined because she "didn't want to end Maks' career."
Maks denied Hope's claims, and fired back on a 2015 podcast. "She's just a s--tty person," he said. "People can be bad or good or whatever. You can have a s--tty life growing up. You can have a tough upbringing. You can have history. You can have whatever. But, if you are just a bad person, you know what I mean? There's no excuse for that."
Kate Gosselin vs. Tony Dovolani
The reality star and her professional partner did not have the best time back in season 10, with Tony later saying "a lot of therapy was involved" after the experience, which included him yelling "I quit!" during a rehearsal.
In response to Tony's comments, the mother of eight said, "I think it is a shame that Tony has been left only with a negative impression of our time together, especially after we spent SO many hours, days, nights and weeks working hard together doing our best in the competition."
Charlotte McKinney vs. Bruno Tonioli
The outspoken judge earned criticism for telling the model she was "never going to win the Nobel Prize for quantum physics, but you are easy on the eyes."
But Charlotte wasn't going to let Bruno get away with his comments, telling E! News, "I just believe it was super uncalled for. Especially after last week with the bullying and talking about just being nice and I didn't see where it came from. We weren't talking about being smart or anything like that. So it was just uncalled for."
Brooke Burke vs. DWTS
Serving as Tom Bergeron's co-host for several years after competing (and wining) in season seven, Brooke was blindsided when she learned she was being let go from the show prior to season 18, with Erin Andrews hired to replace her.
"I have enjoyed seven seasons co-hosting DWTS but understand the need for change considering the position of the show at this juncture," she said in a statement to E! News. "I've always been one to embrace change and looking forward to pursuing opportunities I previously wasn't able to entertain because of contractual obligations to the show. I've seen my fair share of shocking eliminations in the ballroom but this one takes the cake."
Abby Lee Miller vs. Maksim Chmerkovskiy
The Dance Moms star was a guest judge in season 18, and it was clear Maks was not a fan. "I really don't care for anything she has to say," he told co-host Erin Andrews of the reality star's critique of his dance with Meryl Davis.
Later, Abby slammed Maks' comment as "disrespectful," telling E! News, "I don't think it was hurtful to me, no sweat off of my back. But I think it was a little disrespectful to ABC and to Dancing With the Stars and to a judge."