Bobby Bones was crowned champion of Season 27 of Dancing With the Stars on Monday night, becoming a fan favorite throughout the season due to his unbridled enthusiasm, hard work and underdog mentality.
During an appearance on Good Morning America on Tuesday, Bones discussed his success, sharing an inspirational message to others who have also been told “No” in their lives.
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“To everyone who’s told ‘No,’ I just want to say that it doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, because we came from the lowest spot,” the host said of himself and pro partner Sharna Burgess. “It’s always where you’re looking and where you’re going.”
“Every day for us, it wasn’t we were looking to weeks or looking to even the finale, it was practice by practice,” he continued. “And every single practice, when we finished practice we were like, ‘Okay, today is done.’ We did it one day at a time, one climb at a time.”
During his time on the show, Bones had been candid about his underdog status, but his effort to improve and clear enjoyment of what he was doing helped propel him to the win thanks to votes from fans. However, Bones’ win was not without controversy, though as he’s faced naysayers most of his life, the radio host hasn’t been fazed.
Bones previously discussed his failures and subsequent success in his book, Fail Until You Don’t: Fight Grind Repeat, which documented his journey towards becoming a successful radio host.
The 38-year-old told PEOPLE ahead of his book’s release that the word “No” had long been a part of his life before he got to where he is now, and he even used his perceived shortcomings as an advantage to make himself unique.
“I was the youngest person to ever be inducted [in the National Radio Hall of Fame) and I’m huge treat, apparently,” he said. “But I got rejected from 30 radio jobs before I ever got a real radio job.”
“So here’s this guy who’s really good at talking to people through their iPhone or their radio, but in reality, I’m quite a bad speaker,” Bones continued. “I speak in broken sentences. I have an accent. Everything that I do should be wrong but I started really young and I just learned how to learn. I would fail and I would figure out why that didn’t go right and do it again. So my main job, which I’m celebrated for, I sucked at forever.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Tara Ziemba
