Bobby Bones sauntered off the stage of *Dancing With the Stars* with far more than just the coveted Mirrorball Trophy in hand. The radio personality peeled back the curtain on the show's pay structure during his victorious season, which he clinched in 2018 alongside professional dancer Sharna Burgess. He revealed that his earnings for Season 27 ultimately soared into six figures, thanks in part to a salary boost he received after surviving each elimination round.
"That show pays pretty decently," Bobby (born Bobby Estell) shared on the September 15 episode of Jason Tartick's *Trading Secrets* podcast. "Like, the first episode, no paycheck. The second episode, $10,000. Then it's like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000—it builds up to $50,000 an episode if you manage to stick around. So, I ended up pocketing close to $400,000 from that show alone. Financially, it was a pretty sweet deal."
But Bobby's windfall from the show extended beyond his on-screen salary. He credits *DWTS* with unlocking a slew of new opportunities, including his 2021 National Geographic Channel reality series, *Breaking Bobby Bones*. "It branched out into so many different avenues," he remarked. "I mean, we're talking millions of dollars again."
Bobby, who kicked off his reality TV journey as a mentor on *American Idol* mere months before stepping onto the *Dancing With the Stars* ballroom floor, also divulged a clandestine strategy that gave him an edge over some of his competitors. "I kinda cheated, in the sense that they only give you a limited amount of time with your partner—like, four hours a day, they say," he confessed. "So, we'd do our four hours, I'd record the session, and then I'd go rent a studio and train by myself. I illegally put in extra hours because I was so far behind everyone else."
Throughout his tenure on the show, Bobby and Sharna consistently earned scores that hovered in the low-to-middle range leading up to the finale. Many fans lambasted his performances, and judge Julianne Hough even confessed to Andy Cohen in 2024 that she "strongly disagreed" with Bobby's victory over the 12 runners-up, stating, "He wasn't the best dancer."
And Bobby doesn't dispute that assessment. "I wasn't polarizing on the show in any way, except for the fact that I was terrible," he admitted with a laugh. "But I tried as hard as I could."
