Bobby Bones says he returned his Dancing With the Stars mirrorball trophy after being slighted by the show’s former host, Tom Bergeron.
Bones, 45, revealed the news to his TikTok followers on Wednesday, November 12, saying he was hurt by comments that Bergeron, 70, made to Parade earlier this week. The ABC dance competition’s ex-emcee told the outlet that he felt “shocked” by Bones’ 2018 victory and said it “was the the primary time it was like, ‘Ouch.’”
The day after the outlet published the story, Bones aired his vulnerable response on social media.
“I try to not get my feelings hurt, especially about stuff like this, but this was hurtful,” Bones said Wednesday. “And never due to what was said, but really who said it.”
The radio personality said that he likes and admires Bergeron, but felt he was taking an inexpensive shot at him.
“I didn’t even wanna be on the show,” Bones recalled. “I had no intention of being on Dancing with the Stars. I used to be working on a special show on the network, they asked me to go on the show to advertise. Am I imagined to not show up and work hard? Am I imagined to not give it freaking every thing that I even have? Am I imagined to, like, throw it and never win?”

Tom Bergeron, Sharna Burgess and Bobby Bones Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
He continued, “Like, it’s crazy the quantity of hate I get, even from people I respect like Tom Bergeron” and Julianne Hough, one among the show’s recent hosts.
Bones said he feels “like a sixth grader and all of the ninth-grade Dancing kids are shoving me in lockers.”
With exasperation, he pondered: “Like, what did I do? I had an incredible attitude. I worked hard, and here we’re, like six years later, I’m still catching strays out of nowhere. So, I sent the trophy back. They don’t want me to be an element of the show, obviously. So I don’t wanna be somewhere that doesn’t want me to be there.”
He repeated, “So I sent the trophy back to ABC. I not have the Mirrorball trophy.”
While he had “loved” being on the show, he confessed that the continuing negative commentary by members of the DWTS universe has “taken all the enjoyment away from my time [as a contestant].”
Bones remembered having “such an incredible, joyous time. Despite the fact that I used to be the just one in the entire crew that was dancing that had a full-time job at the identical time.”
Bergeron has since apologized to Bones. On Wednesday, he took to his Instagram Stories and shared a screenshot of a direct message that he sent to the slighted winner.
“Bobby, it wasn’t my intention to harm your feelings,” Bergeron said. “My ‘ouch’ was based on my honest feeling that your win spoke to a necessity to deal with the balance between judge and viewer voting.”
He added, “I all the time felt bad that you just & Sharna [Burgess] needed to cope with the aftermath of that win & I definitely regret pouring any salt into that old wound.”


