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Former Dancing With the Stars winner Bobby Bones wants certain contestants to keep it real when it comes to their undeniable ballroom advantages.
“I keep hearing people with years of dance training go on the show — not just this season, but every season — and say, ‘Well, I’ve never done ballroom, so this is completely new for me. It’s going to be really hard,’” Bones, 46, shared in an Instagram video posted Saturday, September 5. “It’s not. It’s an obvious advantage.”
The host of “The Bobby Bones Show” podcast continued, “To watch some of the contestants go on and say, ‘No, it’s just not the same. It’s going to be hard for me too.’ It’s not. It’s just a little insulting when people that have danced their whole life go, ‘Ah, it’s not really the same because I’ve never danced ballroom.’”
Bones entered season 27 of the hit reality competition series with zero dance experience. With help from his professional partner, Sharna Burgess, Bones was able to defy expectations and win the show in November 2018.
As the countdown begins for season 35 with contestants like Jenna Dewan, Harry Shum Jr. and Julia Stiles, Bones explained how some participants may have a clear advantage.
“They know where their arms and feet are without having to constantly look at them,” he said without naming specific contestants. “They understand rhythm. They can hear the beat and know where a movement should land. They already have balance, flexibility, posture, body control and even spatial awareness. They know how to point their feet. They know how to extend to their fingertips and make a movement look complete. Things that, again, if you never danced, you have no idea what’s happening.”
Bones made it clear that he has “no problem” with people with previous dance experience competing on the show alongside those who have never sashayed before.
As he pointed out, it’s hard to find general performers — or actors and singers — in Hollywood who don’t have some kind of dance knowledge.
“I just don’t love pretending that ‘I’ve never done ballroom’ means ‘I have no dance advantage,’” he proclaimed. “Because that, my friends, is a total load of bull crap.”
Before a new season kicks off, Carrie Ann Inaba also weighed in on the debate surrounding the more seasoned contestants.
According to the longtime DWTS judge, people don’t often realize the work that goes into becoming, specifically, a ballroom dancer.
“Your body has memory, so it remembers how to dance, and it thinks it already knows how to do these moves, but it doesn’t,” she claimed to Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Monday, September 7. “It takes a lot of time to un-train the body to put your weight on the front more over your toes instead of back and down and grounded. It’s not as easy as people think.”
Dancing With the Stars season 35 kicks off with a two-night premiere on ABC and Disney+ Tuesday, September 15, and Wednesday, September 16, at 8 p.m. ET.
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