So…I was at odds with this one, because while I think none of us really want to hear any more of Bobby’s thoughts on DWTS, a lot of people are still wrestling with the question of why Artem & Sharna were let go. But for once (and I can’t believe I’m saying this), Bobby made some good points on his podcast yesterday about their dismissal, as well as Sean Spicer’s participation. Bobby’s commentary on the whole situation starts at the 88:43 mark and ends at the 92:52 mark, if you want to listen for yourself; I’ve taken the liberty of transcribing below (pain in the ass, but I know some of you won’t bother listening and will just start going off in the comments regardless – so at least do me the favor of reading this):
Bobby: Let me say this. You know they announced the Dancing with the Stars cast yesterday, and then it came out that Sharna, my partner from last season, is not returning to Dancing with the Stars. She is not the only one – they didn’t bring back Artem on the guys’ side, so it wasn’t just a Sharna thing. But I can tell you that I reached out to her before they announced and was like “Hey what’s up? Who’s your partner?” and she was like “I don’t know yet!”
Amy: Oh.
Bobby: And this was like two or three days BEFORE the announce. And I was like “oh, cool” because she had just been on a trip and she came back and I was like “Oh cool, let me know!” When you see who you get, y’know. So a few days before, she didn’t know she wasn’t gonna be on the show. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn here – I hope not! Uh, so, then she found and texted me and was like “Oh, I didn’t know…this is crazy! I had no idea.”
Amy: Whaaaat?! Wow, I mean, because she’s been on, like-
Bobby: She’s been on for 11 seasons, 12 seasons, yeah. So she wrote [he goes on to read a passage from Sharna’s farewell IG post]. A lot of these sites have now coupled me with the story, going “well this is why, controversial winner!”
Lunchbox: *chuckles* I saw that, yeah.
Bobby: Which it’s not – cause why would Artem not come back, either?
Lunchbox: Right, had nothing to do with you.
Bobby: I would have loved if it had everything to do with me, don’t think that I wouldn’t think that was great – not because of her, but that we just broke the system so much that they’re having to- that’s not the case. Ummm…so…Sharna’s awesome, I talked to her before, I talked to her right after, she’s like “You’re not gonna believe it. I can’t believe it!” So she’s not back. I don’t really know WHY…I’m not sure. I have great relationships with everybody – all that crew on DWTS, obviously with Sharna, so I don’t know what the deal is with her. So…I did see on Instagram that she wrote that…
Amy: That’s a bummer. It’d be different if she was a part of the decision, like “Y’know what, I’m just not gonna do it this year”, but she was just as shocked…
Bobby: I talked to Lauren Alaina last night for a long time, cause she’s doing it. We put a dancing picture on my Instastory, of us dancing…she hasn’t started practicing yet. She’s still in that phase of “this is gonna be so fun!”
Amy: *chuckles* Wait till it rules your life!
Bobby: But I was like “Hey, you’re gonna have some real issues of inadequacy with this. Cause you’re gonna go and you’re just not gonna be able to get it and you’re gonna go ‘oh well I’m the worst’ and it’s gonna bubble into your life and you’ll go ‘well I’m just not good at anything’ and when that happens – CALL ME. Whatever time it is – cause I struggled from that. 2 or 3 days of doing 8, 9 hours a day, like I couldn’t get it, and I was like ‘I’m just sad’, cause I’m not smart enough to get what I see people doing all around me. If that happens, CALL ME. Cause wherever you are, I was there, PLUS.” Cause I had never danced! She called the postshow/preshow yesterday, she called me right after she got on Good Morning America, this is a call from Lauren Alaina yesterday…
[goes to recorded call between Lauren and Bobby]
Bobby: Have you started practicing dancing?
Lauren: NO!
Bobby: No practice yet???
Lauren: No! NONE!
Bobby: And have you announced your partner?
Lauren: I haven’t even met my partner! I don’t know who it is!
Bobby: Wait, they were up there, though, today…
Lauren: The people were there, but they didn’t tell us who our partners were.
Bobby: You follow someone, one of the pros on your Instagram already, that’s not your partner???
Lauren: No I followed him because I sang for him last year.
Bobby: I thought that too, but all the conspiracy websites are saying that Alan is your partner.
Lauren: But, I would be HAPPY if he was, I love him.
[call ends]
Bobby: I talked to her last night, she was like “They said I’m gonna have a good one, but I don’t know who it is!” She still doesn’t know. So, I’m excited for the season, I plan on going for the premiere, I saw that there was some drama because they put Sean Spicer on there, people upset about that. Y’know, I probably would have stayed away from putting anyone political on there, too…there’s a reason why you don’t wanna come on the show and not talk about politics. There’s certain places people go for politics, there’s certain places people don’t – THIS definitely isn’t! He won’t last long, anyway – physically, I don’t think he can handle it. So, yeah…that’s the deal. Pretty good cast, pretty excited about that, my thing on Sharna was I didn’t know, she didn’t know, and then I saw her post yesterday after she had told me that she was kinda upset about not being able to be able to go back. She may go back another time, I don’t know…but there you go. Everybody’s asking me to say something about it, so I said it – I didn’t know, she didn’t know. Alright, cool…
So, some immediate takeaways: the celebs have NOT met their pro partners yet (and vice-versa), so it’s possible they don’t know who they’re with yet. Also clear that Sharna was as caught off-guard about the whole thing as Artem was, and was gobsmacked to find out she wasn’t coming back this season. Bobby also appears to still be a bit of a vainglorious little shit, who likes to think his win “broke the system”. *Sigh* However – he does echo what we’ve all been saying about Spicer’s casting, so he gets minor brownie points from me…you know this show is in deep sh*t when even the most controversial winner ever says “Oof, shouldn’t have cast Spicer, guys.”
Someone also sent me the clip below (can’t figure out if this is from the same episode or a different one), where Bobby makes some good points about how cutting Artem loose was a bad decision…
I’m also being told that Artem is set to appear on the Bella’s podcast this coming Wednesday, so we’ll likely get more of his side of the story as well…stay tuned.
Many of you have asked me for my own thoughts on why Sharna & Artem were let go…and to be honest, I’ve remained quiet, simply because I’m just as stumped as you guys. I guess I can maybe kinda see why Sharna might have been the sacrificial lamb – she could have been removed so as to not remind viewers of the dumpster fire of last season, or maybe the fact that she’s been an outspoken critic of the show in the past could have benched her; compared to media darlings like Witney, Lindsay, Emma, & Jenna, she hasn’t been afraid to speak her mind about the show in the past (note that the last time we had an outspoken female pro who criticized the show in the press, it was Lacey – and her appearances on the show dwindled pretty quickly after that). Is Sharna wrong for speaking her mind? Not always – but from a PR point of view, she may be more of a risk than the new management is willing to take. Plus she no longer has her “It’s Sharna’s turn to win!” plot armor to protect her spot on the show anymore. My only other thought about why Sharna and Artem may have been let go is due to other projects they had going on – perhaps Artem’s participation in Total Bellas or Sharna’s gig as a judge on DWTSAu gave the (incorrect) impression that their hearts weren’t 100% in the DWTS game anymore…? I’m really just spitballing, guys – it makes no sense to me, it makes no sense to you, hell – it makes no sense to Sharna and Artem.
