Bobby Bones told Jason Tartick’s "Trading Secrets" podcast that he "cheated" on Dancing With the Stars by practicing outside the program’s allotted time with his professional partner, a revelation that adds new detail to the debate over his Season 27 victory.
On the podcast Monday, the 45-year-old radio host said contestants were given about "four hours a day" with their professional partners. "So we would do our four, I would record the session and then go by myself and rent a studio myself and train myself. Like, illegally spent time over ... because I was so far behind everybody else," he said, calling himself a "fish out of water" who had "never danced" before the show.
Bones and pro partner Sharna Burgess won Season 27 in 2018 despite frequently receiving lower judges' scores than the other finalists. Judges often gave him mid-range marks, which he described on the podcast as a string of "sevens, a couple sixes. A couple eights." The victory was decided largely by viewer votes, a factor Bones and others have pointed to as central in his taking home the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.
Looking back, Bones acknowledged the win was controversial among a segment of the show's longtime fans. "The fact that I was winning made it difficult on people who had always watched the show," he said, adding that his week-to-week anxiety stemmed from being out of his element. He said he was "just as surprised as anybody" by the outcome.
The win drew criticism from some in the show's community. In August 2024, former DWTS professional and judge Julianne Hough said Bones "shouldn't have won" because he was "not the best dancer." Bones responded on social media at the time by embracing the idea that he was not technically strong, calling himself "the greatest champion" and saying, "I was the worst dancer. I take pride in that." He emphasized that while he was not the best dancer, he worked hard and was chosen by viewers.
Producers altered the show's voting rules after Bones's season, a change his comments addressed indirectly. According to reporting by Newsweek, subsequent seasons limited viewers to voting only when the show was live and prohibited voting during the premiere episode. The rules change was presented by producers as a way to align live performance results with audience participation.
Despite the controversy and his own characterization of extra practice as "illegal," Bones told Tartick that he enjoyed his time on the ABC competition and that the experience introduced him to people who remain friends. He praised Burgess's coaching, saying, "Sharna was excellent. She was really hard, but I needed that." He reiterated that he "loved" the experience and noted connections with other professional dancers who still appear on the show.
Dancing With the Stars returns for Season 34 on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesday, Sept. 16, with a new cast competing for the Mirrorball Trophy. Bones's comments revive attention to how the program balances judges' scores and viewer voting, a dynamic that has shaped debate over several seasons and prompted changes to the competition's voting procedures.