Tom Bergeron is ready to apologize to Dancing With the Stars winner Bobby Bones.
“Here’s the thing,” Bergeron, 70, shared on the Thursday, March 12, episode of the “BobbyCast” podcast. “I don’t know if you give titles to these podcasts, but in my mind, the title for this one is ‘Friendship Cleanup on Aisle Two.’”
The former Dancing With the Stars host proceeded to bring up a November 2025 interview with Parade, where he expressed how shocked he was that Bones, 45, won season 27 of the ABC reality show.
“I felt terrible that the way I phrased my honest surprise at your win,” Bergeron shared. “I think the question to me was, ‘What’s the most shocking elimination?’ I couldn’t remember a shocking elimination. And I wish I had said, ‘Well, this wasn’t a shock, but it was a surprise when Bobby Bones won.’”
Bergeron continued, “I wasn’t the only one surprised, Bobby. But the fact that it hurt your feelings and that you sent your trophy back, I felt terrible about that.”
In a previous episode of the “BobbyCast” podcast, Bones revealed that he had a “minor meltdown” because of Bergeron’s words.
“I was surprised by his reaction to the question [of] who’s one of the most surprising eliminations. They didn’t even ask him about me,” he said on a November 2025 podcast episode. “I have total awareness of my entire situation. It hurt my feelings so much.”
The radio host continued, “That was somebody [who] was so helpful to me during the show ‘cause he knew I was struggling. I still love Tom, but that hurt my feelings.”
As a result of the drama, Bones revealed that he planned to return his mirrorball trophy back to ABC.
“I was made to feel I was really bad at dancing, which I was, [but] then I got to be OK,” Bones said, noting that he does regret returning the trophy. “Someone has reached out to me from the network, and they said they would give it back. It’s whatever I want.”
In his latest podcast, Bones also revealed that he was asked to host Dancing With the Stars after Bergeron left the show.
“I was told you were leaving,” Bones said before learning Bergeron was actually fired from the show. “It was, ‘Hey, Tom is leaving at the end of this season. Would you want to come and host?’ I respected you so much. I was like, ‘Hey, can I talk to Tom and get advice on this decision?’ and they were like, ‘Contractually, we don’t think you should do that.’”
Tyra Banks would ultimately land the gig of hosting before Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro took over.
