DWTS: Judges Say It Was Bones' Best

Bobby Bones and his professional dancing partner Sharna Burgess earned his best scores of the season on Monday night’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

The theme was Memorable Year Night. Host Tom Bergeron promised it’s a “powerful show every season.”

“Get ready for tears and goosebumps tonight,” he said.

“We always say this is sponsored by tissues,” added co-host Erin Andrews.

The Tennsessean reports Bones hyped the performance on his social media accounts all week, promising an emotional dance that he struggled to execute.

By Monday night, Bones had his moves perfected but the emotional aspect of the dance played out through the entire contemporary routine. Bones chose 1998 as his most memorable year  -- the year he graduated high school. The milestone was a particularly meaningful achievement because no one in his family had ever earned their diploma.


“My mom was pregnant with me when she was 15 years old and struggling with addiction and she had to drop out of school,” Bones revealed, adding that he has very few memories of his father.

Bones never had a bedroom, he slept on the couch in the living room instead. With no closet, he crammed all of his clothes underneath the furniture.

“I knew for me to get out of the culture I was in that I needed an education,” Bones said. “School was important to me to try to break the cycle. When I graduated high school and I put on that cap and gown, it was a big deal to me and it was a big deal to my mom.”

The popular country radio personality’s mother died in her 40s of drug and alcohol abuse. But right before she passed away, she earned her GED. She told her son that he inspired her to go back to school.

The judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli  scored Bones and Burgess 23 out of 30.

Bones will find out if the score – combined with the audience vote – is enough to keep him in the show when “Dancing with the Stars” airs 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15, on ABC.