“Dancing With the Stars ”champ Bobby Bones defends his win after Julianne Hough says he was 'not the best'

Bones won the Mirrorball trophy in 2018 after winning the fan vote, despite receiving low scores from the judges.

Dancing With the Stars champion Bobby Bones is clapping back at the criticism surrounding his 2018 win.

On Sunday, former DWTS pro Julianne Hough shared her true feelings about Bones’ victory when a Watch What Happens Live viewer asked her to name a champ whose win she “strongly disagreed” with. Country musician Mickey Guyton, who joined Hough on the couch, named Bones to which Hough said, “I actually agree with you,” adding that Bones won “because of the fanbase” and he "was not the best dancer."

The radio personality was quick to respond on social media, sharing an Instagram video on Aug. 19 to defend his title. He began by noting his love for Hough, whom he has "met a couple times," but then Bones addressed the criticism head-on.

"I was the worst dancer,” Bones admitted. “I take pride in that. Now, I tried as hard as anybody in the history of the show, but I can't dance now, couldn't dance then."

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He continued, “But you know who took down the big evil empire of dance? Well, it's not evil or an empire — but me and you! We did it together.”

Bones won season 27 of Dancing With the Stars alongside partner Sharna Burgess, after competing in the top three against Milo Manheim with dancer Witney Carson, and Evanna Lynch with dancer Keo Motsepe. Despite receiving low scores from the finale judges, Bones earned his Mirrorball trophy when America voted him the winner.

During her WWHL appearance, Hough didn't technically pick Bones herself but pointed to the show’s tendency to let large fanbases influence the win by voting for fan-favorites rather than the best dancer. Bones, however, pointed to this trend as a feature, not a bug.

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"I'm the greatest champion ever,” Bones said in his video, clarifying, “I didn't say I was the greatest dancer, but the greatest champion ever. I'm the man of the people. I'm the man that you guys selected.”

He added, “I’m a terrible dancer. I was a terrible dancer, but they changed the rules after I left because the fan vote was so good.”

Bones, who did not make Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 15 best winners in the series' history, was aware of the criticism surrounding his dancing skills, even in the immediate aftermath of his win. Speaking to PEOPLE in 2018, Bones addressed the positive and negative feedback that poured in throughout the season

“The people on the internet that loved that show were brutal to me,” he said at the time. “If people love dance, you didn’t love me on that show. If people love people going on and trying something new and putting their heart on their sleeve and being uncomfortable, then I think that’s who I was able to connect with.”

He added, “No one who was a ballroom fan was ever going to like me.”

You can hear Bones’ full response to Hough’s comments above.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.