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Bobby Bones has shared his reaction to Tom Bergeron’s comments during an appearance on Dancing with the Stars.
The 45-year-old television personality admitted while chatting with Kaitlyn Bristowe on the Friday, Nov. 22 episode of the Bobby Cast podcast that Bergeron’s comments about her win on the dance competition show caused a “mild meltdown.”
Bones said appearing on DWTS with professional dancer Sharna Burgess in 2018 was “one of the best experiences of my life,” but it later became “unpopular” due to criticism from “hardcore fans” and Bergeron.
The podcast host went on to say that Bergeron “had a mild meltdown” over comments he made in an interview with Parade.
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Bergeron, who hosted DWTS from 2005 to 2019, mentioned Bones by name when asked about the loss that shocked him the most. “It was my first time with Bobby Bones. It hurt,” he said.
Bones said in the podcast episode that he was “very surprised” by Bergeron’s response because “they didn’t even ask about me.”
“Now, did they ask the question, ‘Is it surprising who won?'” I’m all here. I was the most surprised person ever. I know that. I am fully aware of my entire situation. But that wasn’t the case. He was like, ‘I’m not going to answer that question, but I’ll tell you what the most amazing win was,”’ Bones said, adding that the look on Bergeron’s face when he said “ouch” was also insulting.
“It really hurt my feelings,” he said. “I’m always in the business of speaking my mind. When I’m controversial, sometimes it’s made, sometimes it’s not, but I signed up for this and it’s okay. When he did that, it hurt my feelings because that person was someone who was so helpful to me during the show. He knew I was having a hard time.”
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“I still love Tom, but it really hurt my feelings,” Bones added.
The Season 27 winner responded to Bergeron’s comments in a TikTok video on Wednesday, Nov. 12, but later admitted that the video was made while on painkillers after foot surgery. In the clip, he said he returned the Mirrorball trophy to the network.
On a previous episode of the podcast, about letting go of the trophy, Bones said Bergeron’s comments “reflected me negatively and I felt like my feelings were hurt, so I mailed the mirror ball back.”
“It’s kind of dramatic. I was on painkillers, and I thought, if I’m going to say this, I should at least show it. Instead of just a video, I’m just sending the trophy back. So I sent the trophy back as a gesture to say, ‘Guys, we don’t want me to be there, this is the trophy.'” But I loved my time on the show. I love everyone involved in the show,” he added.
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Bones claimed that the network “reached out” to apologize for Bergeron’s comments.
Bergeron apologized for his comments, telling Bones that he “didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
