Bonner Bolton Talks Of How Sharna Burgess And DWTS Has Helped Him (Video)
For those missing Bonner Bolton (like me), here he is talking to Entertainment Tonight in a new facebook chat. He talks of how Sharna Burgess and Dancing With The Stars has made him a better person. Aww….
ETA: Sharna has written a blog at US Weekly. She had a gut feeling it might be her and Bonner’s time to go home this past week, but, she is so proud of him and what he accomplished. More below and at the link.
I usually wake up with a feeling when it’s time. I woke up that Monday incredibly calm, but knew I needed to pack my bags because this could be it. But not because I don’t think Bonner deserved to go further. I had that feeling because everybody left in the competition was so dang good. It could have been anybody’s game. We’re watching some incredible dancers go home week to week, and it’s hard to know what the result will be. I can only say that with my nine partners, I’ve had a gut instinct that I knew when I was going home, and this was no different. Obviously I was hoping that I was wrong.
Seeing how far Bonner has come in the last eight weeks into this competition is phenomenal. As his coach, watching him start to move better, start to move with more confidence and feel better with his injuries, is kind of the greatest gift that I could have.
He trusted me and allowed me to do what I do best and that is to coach him and teach him how to dance. I really took the time to understand his injuries and what he could and couldn’t do, and to understand him as a person, because a lot of teaching is understanding the personality that is in front of you and how to help them. It’s not just dance that I’m teaching this person, it’s how to be confident and how to just take charge of the situation, and that is what I believe Bonner did this season. I watched him grow and I’m incredibly proud of him.
Now I am about to head on tour with Dancing With the Stars Live. One of my favorite things about the tour is getting to meet all of our amazing fans that support us and have kept us on the air for the past 24 seasons. We owe them so much gratitude, and this is kind of like us giving back to our fans. I’m excited — I can’t wait to get out there and dance my butt off!
He really has no love for the judges (aside from Julianne), does he? Can’t say I blame him. Although I think, contrary to his own thoughts, his scoring was fair throughout the comp and he left when needed, their critiques–Len especially–were disgusting on Monday all around.
Interesting to hear him speculate on why the sudden character smearing on his last week. I can’t help but wonder if he was reaping the consequences of not falling in line with the narrative TPTB wanted. He says it went south after week 3. I believe that was when he officially shut down the showmance with Sharna on IG.
I also dig what he says on the show changing from no experience to being full of ringers and the unfairness of judging the average joe to the standards of contestants with experience.
Wonderful interview with Bonner. He was able to tell his true thoughts and feelings aout the show, his partner Sharna. So sad that the judges could not be more respectful of his physical abilities. My admiration for Len has dropped as well as Carrie Ann. She came off as a real b*^#h to me. TPTB on the show need to do SERIOUS EVALUATING OF several uudges(all that have not ever danced on DWTS “………3 out of 4!). I am hink the cute little gal doing the interview did an excellent with her questions(and maybe even had a school girl crush on Bonner!). So glad I took the time to watch this particular interview!!
Who knows? Maybe the mods know if Bonner was shown in a nicer light on the show than he really is. He could be a playboy?! He def. Should’ve left before Nick Vial. Nick was classy and different in a good light compared to other Bachelors on the show.
For me, Bonner was like the typical aloof Bachelor they cast every season and I 100% agreed with LEN when he went rogue.
Bonner is such a doll baby!! He had a right to voice his feelings and was absolutely justified. I love his politeness. Sharna sure wrote like she enjoyed working with him and doesn’t regret one moment. He should be very proud of his accomplishments and how far he was able to go on the show. I just hated watching Len’s disgraceful degrading tactic again from this past week 8. I think the viewers would be shocked if they say every moment of other celebs in rehearsals! It’s gets hard by the 7th week to the end and everyone has a breaking point. After listening to this nice young man, I wish him nothing but the best life and all his dreams come true!
From what I’ve read and seen, seems like all of Bonners castmates loved him so I tend to believe that he is a nice guy that wouldn’t let his story be twisted to fit the producers narrative so he started getting the crap edits. And no, he shouldn’t have gone home before Nick or Nancy because obviously more people wanted to see him than either of them. As far as Len, he was way out of line. He’s there to judge dance ability not tell the audience who they should vote for or how long someone should be on the show. Good for Bonner for sticking to his guns and calling them out for their crap. This was a great interview.
Seems like Bonner fought back during his time on DWTS. So TPTB did their manipulation with the judges. I appreciate Bonner’s comments though it does detract from just trying to enjoy the show. And I would like to see Sharma win one year. She’s had some great partnerships and is a great teacher, choreographer and friend.
This was a great interview. Bonner was open and honest and gave great insight to how the show truly works. I didn’t know who he was before the show and I do appreciate his story. My husband injured his back last year (not as severely as Bonner) and had surgery on it but has not returned to his pre-injury form. He lives with constant pain and struggles even with sleeping. To see Bonner push through the pain and enjoy dance, was really nice to see. Maybe my hubby and I should try ballroom dancing ? Anyhow, great interview. Loved his honesty.
One only has to re-read Derek’s comments last season to easily believe that everything Bonner says is the truth.
I liked hearing his perspective about the show. His experience wasn’t the best. He was really at a disadvantage as was Kris Kattan. I can’t help but feel that as the show lingers, pros come and go, and “stars” get harder to come by, that more and more contestants will leave with a similar impression.
I appreciate Bonner’s “shoot from the hip” honesty in this interview. He has the right to be upset with how it all went down and it confirms what I have been suspecting for quite some time about what goes on behind the scenes of DWTS. I agree with Bonner, sadly it is NOT the show it once was. The blatant agendas, hypocrisy of double-standards, personal attacks on celebs AND viewers, and the constant cloud of negativity surrounding this season has done it for me, and I have been a loyal fan since the beginning. It’s past time for an overhaul, bring the joy, magic, and “feel good” entertainment back!
@ Kandy #9: I have been wondering a lot myself about that: going forward, will most DWTS contestants leave with an impression like Bonner’s?
Also: will season 24’s antics scare off a lot Stars from appearing on the show to begin with?
I saw some Bonner comments in the media where he said he is interested in dating Normani; even said he wanted to ask her for her number but was whisked off to NYC so fast, he never had the chance. No matter who Bonner ends up with I hope he’s happy, and if he ends up with Normani, then maybe we can say he truly did win the grand prize. I enjoyed Bonner’s stint on the show, and his exit was everything a cowboy’s exit should be – stoic and proud and not giving an F.
@Nukegrrrl – I think Marilu definitely left her season feeling kinda disillusioned by the show in general – she had been such a fan for so long, and then got treated so poorly. I wouldn’t be surprised if contestants in future seasons who don’t get pimped (like Bonner) receive the same treatment.
Someone mentioned Nick – can’t recall in what context, but I remember Deep Throat mentioning that Nick was very well-liked by the crew. Was “funny, and nothing like they portray him on The Bachelor“. But the other thing DT really liked about Nick is that he knew something was fishy about the casting this season and wasn’t afraid to speak up – one of the first things he said in rehearsals was “Oh, I know the guys are screwed this season. Every female contestant has dance experience and the guys have none!” I think Nick was disappointed with the season as a whole, but probably was better prepared for the screwage than Bonner was – I think Bonner had no idea what to expect, and thought things would be fairer. I also don’t think he anticipated having his every move both on and off-camera picked apart by the more obnoxious cross-section of the DWTS fandom – seemed like every day, that guy was fielding hate from the SJW’s of Tumblr for being everything from “sexist” to “anti-Semitic”. I couldn’t keep up with the “outrage of the day”. No wonder the guy didn’t really have a good time.
Courtney, I agree with you in regards to Bonner and the unceasing outrage and whining about him. I may have had a few issues with the guy, but I swear he couldn’t put his pants on, without someone criticizing which leg he put in first! I think to a large extent he was a fish out of water and he paid dearly for that.
I also agree that Marilu was left with a bad taste in her mouth (mostly for having the poor luck of being partnered with Derek IMO). And if I were to guess, I think Simone might be wishing she had passed on signing up. I think Laurie told her how much fun she had and what a great experience it was, so she signed on thinking it would be different and fun. If I had to guess before the season started on who would be pimped I would have guessed Simone, I mean come on she’s the most decorated U.S. female gymnast ever! Yet, for whatever reason, to me, the treatment has been more Nastia than Laurie.
I do think that if TPTB continue with this they will have even a harder time getting people to sign on, even C & D listers; who wants to be treated shabbily and maybe embarrassed on national live tv? Unless they need the money that bad, LOL!
@Leigh – DT hasn’t gotten to be around Simone a ton, but he/she did mention that Simone seems to be kinda “over it” whenever DT sees her and is not really having fun anymore. Which makes me sad for her, because I think she was pumped to both be on the show and be paired with Sasha, and it’s been a big dud. And oddly enough, DT actually thinks Sasha could be part of the problem – said he seems “short-tempered” with Simone and gets frustrated when she doesn’t get something right away. I guess there was a big brouhaha between them about Simone not starting off on-time for their samba because she missed the cues? Methinks Sasha’s feeling the pressure of having a contender, and is handling it the wrong way.
As for Bonner, I’ll also toss this out there: I think Bonner may have suffered by having to follow Hinch as Sharna’s partner. I think Hinch was as good as it could possibly get for Sharna as a partner – he had natural talent, he worked hard, and he was so damn likeable. After having the blessing of Hinch – someone like Bonner, while not inherently bad, is going to pale in comparison. Bonner was the Keyshawn to Hinch’s Charlie – he just couldn’t compare. So I have to wonder if that may have colored fans’ opinion a bit – Bonner is quite a bit more reserved than Hinch, his accident fresher than Hinch’s was, and I think just the difference between being a Texas native and being a Canadian native just made a stark contrast between the two. Two very different attitudes.
EDIT: Just to clarify – I’m not saying Bonner was perfect, and that his only issue was having to follow the class act that was Hinch. Bonner had some issues of his own that just left me shaking my head and going “Really, bro?”, but I don’t think he was nearly the villain that some were casting him as. I think he was more ignorant than malicious.
I’m glad that Bonner had an opportunity to speak honestly about his experience on the show. I am so sad for him that he was treated the way he was. I agree with Evangelina that the scores he received were fair, contrary to how he feels. I can’t say I really blame him, though, for feeling that he was getting screwed in the scores department because he was screwed in a whole bunch of other ways, so it would be easy to feel that he was also being screwed on the scores.
@Courtney That’s sad to hear about Simone. In some ways I almost feel worse for her than for Bonner. While I think Bonner probably came into this not knowing what to expect, I’m guessing Simone saw how much Laurie loved it and how well she was treated and expected it to be a ton of fun. It must be really disappointing to expect to have a fun, different experience in which you’re treated very well and instead be picked apart and criticized every week.
24 seasons is long enough for these judges, this panel needs a serious overhaul, out with Carrie Ann and len, ok with Julianne and don’t mind Bruno, at least they come across as honest. Loved Bonner and really was shocked at the judges comments last week, he did not deserve this. It is now very apparent how they work to bring their favorite out front. I think the scoring needs to be 30% Judges and 70% fan votes after all this is not about what the judges like, its what the fans like – RIGHT?
@Courtney- that’s interesting about Sasha. I would be curious how much of it is the pressure of having a contender and how much of it is watching your contender get nitpicked by the judges while other contenders aren’t? Sasha’s never been in the middle of the show’s manipulation the way Derek and Mark have, and I wonder how much of that is draining him. Either way he’ll have to work on it if it’s affecting Simone, but the way Simone is judged versus the way Normani is judged would piss me off if Simone was my celeb.
Thanks for the reply, Courtney, and for bringing up Marilu. I really enjoyed Marilu’s chat with Pure Derek Hough last year and hope any bad memories from DWTS aren’t weighing her down.
Does anyone know if Marilu is still a DWTS fan after all she went through, and what she thinks of this season?
I saw where Marilu was mad that Heather got eliminated, haven’t asked her about it though. She could be friends with her…she seems to be friends with everyone.
“I remember watching the show when it first came on and it used to be about people who had no prior dance experience and background, which made me amped to go on the show,” he continued. “That’s what I remembered, and getting there, it was so much different. Obviously there’s all these pro dancers and they’re all incredible and I made friends with all of them and really enjoyed and was inspired by being around them, but yeah, I don’t know when their fan base and the judges got so harsh on contestants that didn’t know how to dance. Because to me, I thought that’s what the show was about.” Bonner from ET interview that transcribed some of his remarks.
A lot of fans saw Bonner as a national treasure being an authentic cowboy & all that Americana & Western mystique that cowboy culture symbolizes. Shame DWTS didn’t capitalize on it enough & give him more imput about that Western culture that he & viewers wanted to see.
The show is schizophrenic Agree totally w/the last statem’t Bonner made above “don’t know when their fan base and the judges got so harsh on contestants that didn’t know how to dance”
This season, w/o Mark or Derek’s creativity,the dancing in general didn’t stand-out so I went w/ Bonner for his impressive & inspiring journey (also enjoyed watching Charro)…if I just wanted to watch good dancers can go to PBS for Ballroom or other strictly dancing shows.
@Courtney, In some ways I guess I’m a bit surprised at what Deep Throat says about Sasha and Simone. Not so much with Sasha as I can see why he might be feeling the pressure as he had someone seen as a huge ringer and now she’s had issues ( not with technique but with emotion). But being an elite athlete I’d think she’d be used to tough coaching; I doubt she’s been handled with kid gloves. I do wonder if she would have been treated/scored etc the same way if she had been on last season instead of Laurie? I’m really not sure at this point if she even cares if she goes home Monday; I can sense she’s over it all and probably wishes she had never signed on.
On a side note are you a bit surprised they haven’t pushed more for a “face-off” finale between Emma and Sasha, you know playing on the engaged couple angle? You know they love their drama (be it real or manufactured)
@ Leigh #21: That’s what’s really bothering me – the lack of support for a seemingly-obvious Emma/Sasha showdown makes me wonder if TPTB really want Normani to win against all odds. Like literally against the odds to the point of suspicion.
I couldn’t sit through the whole thing, but listened to most of it because I was really curious on his perspective. He made many good points about the manipulation, and I kind of get where he’s coming from on the scoring too. I didn’t see where he dissed Sharna, except for the part where he said he was frustrated only because she ran through his routine in a half hour, left him alone for several hours to learn it, and expected him to know it when she returned. I think the show turned on him at about the time he and Sharna stopped playing the showmance game. He sort of alluded to it in the interview.
Interesting interview. He does make some valid points regarding non dancers and how the show used to be. Len did go a bit too far as no one should be made to feel like they are no longer welcome so I can easily see how he feels that they had no respect for all his hard work and I can’t imagine how horrible it must be for everything to be so painful and still persevere.
Saying that I do think the scores were pretty fair on the whole, but I think he suffered from never having a truly “wow” performance unklike Noah or Amy which would have encouraged him and made it all feel worth it. Part of that was down to luck eg injuring himself before show day so affecting performances and leading to a paso the next wk with little content (which led to his elimination) just as he was begining to noticeably improve but the other part of the problem was he never quite learned to sustain a strong performance for the entire routine so never had the emotional imapact of Noah or Amy who you could see truly put their hearts into it, added to the fact his disability was hidden, so far less obvious when doing something that for him was rather difficult.
The inital part came off as a bit of a venting session, at times sounding even a bit petty, far too long on the walk out, and when he brought up Trump he just sounded paranoid. Bringing up “handgate” again when its been done to death- I think it had very little to do with DWTS, just a case of being on a popular live show in today’s world of social media where there are many sheep and many people who love being outraged without often fully understanding what they are outraged about.
Does anyone know if it’s true that the judges see the performances before show time?
Regarding producers agenda I get the impression it was about wanting an emotional package from him the final week, like Normani’s – I had read something regarding painkillers and depression, maybe he refused to talk about it, so they gave him a crappy edit. Did seem odd because all his other packages seemed positive (which is what makes me think its not showmance related) and no one else had crappy edits on their last night.
Bottom line is I don’t think he was fully ready for the experince phsically or emotionally and he didn’t fully understand what he was getting into, though it’s obviously a shame that the experience didn’t live up to his expectations.
Forgot to add the inital part regarding Sharna isn’t the nicest, I mean sure he complements her lots of times throughout but when he wonders if she was attempting to start a fight under producers orders he calls into question her character and its a pretty crappy statement coming from a ‘friend’ who you say you are close to. I like Sharna, and all the other female pros for that matter and hightly doubt any of them would accept a producers order to start a fight if that ever even occurs. Makes me think he didn’t get to know Sharna all that well. Also he calls in into question her teaching in that incident (I”m sure there is some truth to his statement regarding teaching the troupe, but his timeline doesn’t make sense) and its all to try and clean up the damage he feels was done to his image because he walked out. He didn’t even look bad for walking out it was more the tone and the “you got it” especailly as Sharna didn’t even seem angry,she seemed at most stressed and wanted to carry on teaching (she looked mad after he walked out). He could of put it a much better way because its normal that there are moments of tension and I doubt he was always easy to work with, but he seemed to blame her for making him look bad and I really didn’t like how he seemed to have no loyalty to someone who only ever defended him in interviews and on social media, even taking heat for it. Huge contrast to what was seen between other partnerships.
Sure it must be hard when you’re often in pain but didn’t like how he seemed to be willing to throw Sharna under a bus to clean up his image.