‘American Idol’: Bobby Bones Feels the Pressure Being Part of Iconic TV Show

Bobby Bones has been part of all of this season of American Idol, serving as an in-house mentor for Season 17 of the reality TV talent show. Although he is grateful for the gig, it is also more than a bit intimidating for him.

“To walk out on the stage, when those big ‘American Idol’ letters are up, I’ve had a couple moments where I go, Oh man, if I could tell the kid in me who was watching the show that this was going to happen, I don’t think that I would have believed me,” Bones confessed to ABC’s Nightline. “It’s a legacy, and I don’t want to be the one to screw it up. Really, I don’t.”

Not that Bones is immune to challenging himself. The radio host unexpectedly won the Mirrorball trophy on the most recent season fo Dancing With the Stars, even though he admits he had no idea what he was doing, at least in the beginning.

“It was just like being dropped in a foreign country, and going, ‘Survive,’” the Bobby Bones Show host said, adding that the experience helped him coach the Idol contestants. “Like I tell them on American Idol, you don’t have to be the best singer. If you’re trying to be the best singer, you’re not going to win. But you can be America’s favorite singer.

“I do that with my radio show, and I did that when I was dancing,” he added. “I wasn’t good, but I think I was their favorite, and I won with what I use every day, and that is just be who you are.”

Fighting for what he wants was practically born in Bones, who grew up with what could have been insurmountable odds.

“I come from a really small town of 700 people, in Mountain Pine, Arkansas,” reflected Bones. “I grew up without a dad, and my mom was an addict who ended up dying in her 40s, so for me, I needed to break the cycle somehow. From a really early age, I knew that I had to get an education and get out. I was the first kid to graduate high school in my family, first kid to graduate college.

“Since the days when I was 5, 6, 7 years old, sleeping on the couch. I never had a real bedroom, until I went to college – that was the first time I had literally my own first bed,” he continued. “I think I got out because I wanted to show others they could do it. For me, that’s really what all of this is. If I can do it, I think anyone can do it.”

Bones has already achieved so much, but according to the 39-year-old, he is just getting started.

“I think if you don’t set your goals super high, no one else will,” Bones explained. “I have much bigger goals. If I don’t, who’s going to? I don’t know if that’s a cocky thing to say. I’m not saying I”m good. I’m just saying I have bigger goals. I think I can be the governor of Arkansas. I think I can be president of the United States if I want to. I do feel like I’m representing a lot of people out there that just aren’t being heard.”

It’s that tenacity that makes Bones a role model, both on American Idol and in real life.

“I love what I do,” said Bones. “I talk to a lot of people in a lot of different ways, but I think that I’m able to be successful because I think they see me in them.”

Photo Credit: Getty Images/ Gary Miller