Bonner Bolton: his dating wish, his near-fatal accident and his reaction to the harsh criticisms on the show: Learn on all that here!
His crush on a fellow competitor
The American world champion professional bull rider Bonner Bolton was contesting in the 24th season of ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ with partner Australian ballroom dancer Sharna Burgess.
He was eliminated on 8th May 2017. Talking to ‘Entertainment Tonight’, Bonner mentioned his crush on fellow contestant singer Normani Kordei.
He said:
“You know what, I love that girl. She is just so beautiful inside and out, when she walks in the room, the whole room lights up. She is such a sweetheart and [was] an encouragement to me the whole time I was there.”
He added:
“I think she is a beautiful lady, and if she asked me out on a date, I would sure enough go.”
At the request of the interviewer, Bonner Bolton looked at the camera and acted to ask Normani Kordei for a date, hoping that if she was watching, she would answer in the affirmative.
As regards his relationship with his partner, Bonner Bolton has this to say:
“We’re great friends. This experience has put both of us through a lot, you know, and we’ve remained professional throughout the entire thing. It’s not ever crossed the line of dating. Her and I were definitely intrigued by each other -her being Australian, you know, the spicy Australian with the accent -and she’s a beautiful girl and a great person. But I think we’re definitely better off friends and it’s gonna stay that way.”
He said that he had a special bond with Sharna Burgess but no romantic feelings for her. Praising her, Bonner Bolton said:
“I have all the respect in the world for Sharna. We are great friends. I loved her pushing me. She made me a better person and really helped me succeed to the level I got to on that show. Just helping me stay positive and driven and I appreciate that big time.”
His near-fatal accident
In January 2016, Bonner Bolton was thrown off the back of a bull and fell on his head. He broke his 2nd cervical vertebra. This injury left him paralyzed from the neck down.
It took him hours to regain his feeling. He had to undergo spinal fusion surgery and a metal brace was inserted around the broken vertebra.
Due to this accident and the orthopedic surgery, Bonner Bolton has stiffness and pain and finds it difficult to do certain movements.
Due to this limitation, he was unable to perform some steps at the dance show, especially the ones involving neck movements.
His poor projection and harsh criticisms of the show
Bonner Bolton was thankful to Sharna Burgess and ABC for the show but feels that he was poorly projected and faced unnecessary rude criticisms while at the show.
He feels that after this 3rd dance, all the judges turned against him and started criticizing him in an unhealthy way for his dance moves. He feels that he entered the show with the notion that even those with no prior dance experience or training could participate in it.
Bonner enjoyed working with the professional dancers, and he became friends with them. But he does not know when and why the judges turned hostile toward him.
Bonner Bolton feels that the producers of the show deliberately showed him in a poor light. They picked up rehearsal tapes that were out of context and projected them such that the audience felt that he had bickered with his female partners on the Trio Night on the show and disrespected them.
He felt bad about it since he felt that the show painted a poor picture of not only him but the whole cowboy clan since he represents them.
He said:
“It made me feel frustrated because I represent not only myself, but also my culture as cowboys, and that’s not who we are. We have respect for everyone and, for the most part, we all try to hold ourselves to a really high standard in the old cowboy tradition and cowboy way. And that’s to treat every lady and woman with respect.”
Bonner Bolton felt that the judges especially Len Goodman were very harsh with him. He believes that they failed to understand his physical limitations and were disrespectful towards him.
Len Goodman had gone to the extent of telling Bonner Bolton that he did not deserve to be there. Bonner Bolton, however, appreciated the comments of Julianne Hough who he thought always provided a real, honest answer and a fair criticism of his dance.
He added:
“She wasn’t always favorable toward me, but I felt like she was fair.”
The bad experiences on the show left Bonner Bolton feeling hurt, causing him to say:
“I would love to [see them] break their necks and see how it feels to have that metal in their body,”
Expressing the reason for his being on the show, Bonner Bolton said:
“I never came on the show because I thought I could dance. It was just because I wanted to find out if I could.”
Short bio on Bonner Bolton
Bonner Bolton is a world-champion professional bull rider and model. He is also a reality TV personality, appearing as one of the celebrity contestants to compete in the twenty-fourth season of Dancing with the Stars. Bolton won his first bull riding world title at age 20. More Bio…
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Posted on: Thursday, May 25 2023
