Bobby Bones Admits He ‘Cheated’ to Win ‘DWTS’ Season 27 — Here’s How

Paige Strout September 16, 2025, 9:25 am

Bobby Bones & Sharna Burgess on Dancing With the Stars — ABC/Craig Sjodin

Seven years after winning Season 27 of Dancing With the Stars, Bobby Bones shared the secret to his success on the show.

“I cheated in the way of, they give you a limited amount of time with your partner, like four hours a day, they say,” Bones revealed on the Monday, September 15, episode of Jason Tartick‘s Trading Secrets podcast. “So, we would do our full work. I would record the session and then go by myself and rent a studio myself and train myself to, illegally, like, spent time over.”

Bones competed with former DWTS pro Sharna Burgess on Season 27 in 2018. While on the show, Bones said he squeezed in extra rehearsal time into his already busy schedule. “I was still doing the radio show every day, waking up at 3 a.m. in LA and touring, doing standup on the weekends,” he explained. “And so, it was the hardest part of my life, as far as how difficult it was to just eat, stay hydrated, and work, and think in a normal manner.”

He continued, “I started to dance, and I wasn’t in any way polarizing on the show other than I sucked. Because I didn’t run out and like, ‘I’m the best.’ I tried as hard as I could. And I got sevens, a couple of sixes, a couple of eights.”

Bones’ time on DWTS sparked controversy, as he continued advancing in the competition despite earning lower scores than some competitors. “People like traditional dancers. You ain’t gonna like me because I have no idea what I’m doing. I was very transparent about that on the show. Very vulnerable, like, ‘Guys, I’m clueless,'” he said on the podcast. “And the fact that I was winning made it difficult on people who had always watched the show.”

Bobby Bones and Sharna Burgess on Dancing With the Stars

ABC/Kelsey McNeal

According to Bones, producers told him post-season that he had the “highest separation ever in the history of that show of votes,” adding, “[There’s] a very non-vocal majority. Normal people don’t complain on Instagram. I think the quote from one of the executives was, ‘I could have peed on stage in my final dance and won.’ But they never told me that.”

Following his controversial win, DWTS made changes to the voting system to better balance judges’ scores and fan votes. In addition to requiring voting to occur during the show’s East Coast airtime, the show introduced the Judges’ Save for Season 28, allowing a judge to save a pair from elimination.

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“They didn’t ever want me to happen again, because I was kicking good people off. It wasn’t that I was winning,” Bones said of the voting changes. “The hardcore fans of that show are very mean.”

Despite the drama, Bones said he enjoyed his time on the show and named Burgess as the “best” DWTS pro.

Earlier this year, Season 27 runner-up Milo Manheim said coming in second place has “worked out in my favor,” despite being “robbed” of the win. “People come up all the time now, and they’re just like, ‘You killed Dancing With the Stars,'” he said on a July episode of the Zach Sang Show podcast. “And I don’t think I would be getting that validation had I won. So, it’s really nice.”

Dancing With the Stars, Season 34 Premiere, Tuesday, September 16, 8/7c, ABC