"I was so properly put in my place" - Former Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron hails Simone Biles for responding to his remarks in 2017

Former DWTS host Tom Bergeron recently admitted his fault for passing a remark at Simone Biles in 2017. The 68-year-old explained his intention behind commenting on the gymnast after her performance and how he regretted it a minute later.

In 2017, Simone Biles participated in the 24th season of the celebrity dance reality show, Dancing With The Stars. In one of the episodes, the four-time gold medallist delivered a Paso Doble performance with her dancing partner, Sasha Farber. However, her dance routine did not receive good feedback from the judges.

While judges Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman were extremely critical of her performance, judge Carrie Ann Inaba was appreciative of the gymnast’s efforts.

Simone Biles at Dancing With The Stars (Image via Getty Images)

However, Simone Biles was not at all smiling while listening to any of the judges’ comments including Carrie Ann Inaba. This made Bergeron pass a remark on Biles saying:

“I was waiting for you to smile at some of the compliments. You didn’t.”

Refusing to step back, the then 20-year-old gymnast retorted at the host replying,

“Smiling doesn’t win you gold medals.”

Remembering that episode, Bergeron explained his reason for passing such a comment on the gymnast in his recent interaction on Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” podcast.

He shared that while Simone Biles was receiving feedback from the judge, she was not smiling at all. This was one of the DWTS producers saying, “‘Wow, she’s not even smiling at Carrie Ann’s compliments,’” which was heard by Tom Bergeron. He said on the podcast:

“I had that last thought from [the producer] in my head, and I went, ‘I noticed you didn’t smile."

The former DWTS host expressed what he thought after passing the comment on Biles:

“The moment it came out of my mouth, I thought, ‘Oh, you [idiot].’”

However, remembering Biles’s hard-hitting reply, Bergeron told in the podcast,

“I was so properly put in my place...”

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Simone Biles and Tom Bergeron performed an activity to lighten the incident

Tom Bergeron (Image via ABC)

After the on-air clash between Simone Biles and Tom Bergeron, the host decided to apologize to the gymnast on his X (formerly known as Twitter) in 2017. He posted an apology stating that he should have asked her, “What's your reaction to the judge's comments?”

Moreover, later on, he suggested to Biles that they must take a photo together with her wearing the shirt quoting, “Smiling doesn’t win you gold medals.” They clicked the picture and also posted it on social media.

Remembering that moment, Bergeron continued on the podcast:

“I stood next to her looking very sheepish while she wore that wonderful shirt, and we put that on social media and everything. But that was one time when I wished I had taken a beat, translated what I heard in my ear, and put it in my own words.”