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Bobby Bones has a theory as to why he won Dancing With the Stars season 27 in the wake of his controversial performances.
“I think my season … was, kind of, that first season of the social media era of Dancing with the Stars. I mean, it’s a part of the reason that I won,” Bones, 46, said on the Thursday, October 1, episode of the “He Said G Said” podcast regarding his journey on the hit ballroom competition. “I was doing my [radio] show; I was working while I was doing that show, so that helped.”
The radio personality cha-cha’d across the dance floor with pro partner Sharna Burgess during 2018’s season 27, ultimately clinching the mirrorball trophy. Bones’ victory quickly sparked online backlash over his perceived dancing skills.
“The fact that I was super active on social media and strategizing social media that helped me win, as well,” he posited on Thursday’s episode, noting online content can often receive more views than the actual live broadcast. “I don’t really go into anything with the idea that I might be kicked off or lose, and so, my whole goal was, ‘Just don’t be the slowest.’ You only get eaten by the lion if you’re the slowest.”
Bones, who had limited dance training going into the competition, soon realized that the fan vote “actually [mattered] way more” than the judges’ scores.
“The scores cap out at 10 [per judge], that’s it, and there may be an 18 percent difference in No. 1 and No. 2, but there is no cap on the fan vote,” he explained. “You can run that thing up as high as you possibly can and create such a difference in the fan vote to the actual scoring. And I remember thinking, ‘How has nobody thought like this before?’”
To leverage more fan votes, Bones stressed that he “trained as hard as [he] could” to show off his journey to the viewers directly.
“I just really embraced, ‘Let me be as vulnerable as I possibly can through my packages, through what I would say before and after, and I’m gonna train my face off and people will see that I’m trying as hard as I can and they will see I’m getting better,’” he said. “That’s what won the show. That show is all popularity.”
Bones added, “There’s a reason that you vote at the beginning of the show for dancers that haven’t even danced yet. So, as soon as the show launches, they put the number up to vote. You’re not even watching them dance yet. It’s not a dance competition, it’s literally a popularity contest.”
Bones’ victory made waves nearly seven years later after then-host Tom Bergeron revealed that he was still “shocked” that the radio personality took home the trophy. Hurt by Bergeron’s comments, Bones shipped his engraved mirrorball back to DWTS.
Bergeron, 71, eventually issued an apology and the show sent Bones his trophy back.
