‘Dancing With the Stars’: Guillermo Rodriguez Breaks Silence on Jackson Olson Controversy

After Jackson Olson publicly apologized to Guillermo Rodriguez for a comment he made about his fellow Dancing With the Stars contestant, Jimmy Kimmel‘s sidekick revealed where he stands with the Savannah Bananas star.

“We’re friends,” Rodriguez told TV Insider. “We’re competing against each other, but we’re friends. We’re having fun. He’s a good guy.”

Ahead of the October 6 episode, Olson and Rodriguez made it clear that there was no tension between them by filming a video set to Hannah Montana‘s “Nobody’s Perfect” together. Olson apologized to Rodriguez for his controversial comment, and after the show, he said they also spoke in person about the situation.

 

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“I love Guillermo, and I have loved him [since we met],” Olson confirmed. “We’ve gotten close on the show. I went into his trailer and we talked for 30 minutes. We’re like, ‘Let’s clear the air and show people that we’re actually friends and are not malicious towards each other.'”

While Olson admitted that “some people [online] wanted” there to be drama between the men, that’s certainly not the case. “We’re truly friends,” Olson added.

Olson came under fire for commenting on an Instagram post that showed Loco Beach Coconuts player Erik Ostberg dancing the same foxtrot Rodriguez and his pro partner, Witney Carson, did on the September 29 episode of Dancing With the Stars. “But seriously how did you do this better than him with 2 hours of rehearsal,” Olson wrote in the now-deleted message, insinuating that Ostberg’s dance was better than Rodriguez’s, despite having far less rehearsal time.

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The baseball player’s partner, Emma Slater, insisted that there’s nothing but camaraderie and support between the contestants on DWTS. “It’s very much like that in the skybox,” she said. “We’re cheering each other on, rooting for each other. We’re happy to see other people succeed.”

Slater also reacted to Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong‘s elimination on October 6, admitting that it was “horrible to watch,” and adding, “It’s going to be like this. These eliminations are hard.”

Dancing With the Stars, Season 35, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC and Disney+