Bobby Bones Acknowledges His ‘Minor Meltdown’ Over Tom Bergeron’s Recent ‘DWTS’ Comments

Bobby Bones admits he had a “minor meltdown” when deciding to return his Dancing With the Stars Mirrorball Trophy over comments made by former host Tom Bergeron about his Season 27 win.

The radio host, 45, addressed the controversy during Saturday’s episode of his Bobbycast podcast, revealing that he “had a minor meltdown” after being “surprised by his reaction to the question [of] who’s one of the most surprising eliminations.”

Bergeron had told Parade at the time that the “thing that shocked [him] most” during his 15 years hosting the ABC dance competition was Bones’ win, which came after a season in which the country music personality did not score as high as his fellow finalists.

“It’s like Andy Richter this season,” he continued of the ongoing 34th season of DWTS, which, due to fans’ votes, saw the beloved comedian make it further in the competition than his scores would have suggested. “He’s charming and has such a big heart. Do I think he’s going to win? No. Do I think he’s bringing a quality to the show that epitomizes what the show is? Absolutely. But Bobby Bones was the first time it was like, ‘Ouch.’ No disrespect to Bobby. He would probably say the same thing.”

Bones added Saturday that Bergeron’s comments “hurt my feelings so much” due to their past interactions on DWTS. “That was somebody [who] was so helpful to me during the show because he knew I was struggling,” he explained. “I still love Tom, but that hurt my feelings.”

Bones then returned his Mirrorball Trophy to ABC, which is a decision he doesn’t regret, although he said “someone has reached out to me from the network, and they said they would give it back. It’s whatever I want.”

Bones is still undecided about the fate of his trophy, however. “It’s not just about Tom, [but] it’s the association sometimes. I look at that and that’s the only thing I’ver ever done where I purposefully just tried hard, worked hard, tried to make people better around me,” he explained, adding, “I did everything I could to help, and then for people to go, ‘We think you’re less than,’ that was my association with the trophy.”

He added, “This is the only thing where I was the underdog who won, and then that’s held against me. That association kind of soured it a bit.”

Bergeron has since apologized for his comments about Bones, sharing a screenshot on Instagram of the message he sent the former DWTS contestant.

“Bobby, it wasn’t my intention to hurt your feelings,” he wrote. “My ‘ouch’ was based on my honest feeling that your win spoke to a need to address the balance between judge and viewer voting. I always felt bad that you and [Sharna Burgess] had to deal with the aftermath of that win and I certainly regret pouring any salt wound.”