Jonathan Bennett is a beloved Hallmark star, an adored soap opera actor and a popular Food Network host. He’s even appeared on Broadway and will always be a part of pop culture history thanks to his appearance as teen dreamboat Aaron Samuels in 2004’s “Mean Girls.”
Granted, despite all of those accomplishments, there’s one experience that didn’t exactly involve a succesful outcome for Bennett. That was his time as a competitor on “Dancing With the Stars.” Now, Bennett has revealed how he feels about his performance.
Jonathan Wasn’t Impressed with His ‘DWTS’ Dancing
For those who don’t remember or simply weren’t aware, Bennett appeared as a competitor on Season 19 of “Dancing With the Stars” in 2014. He was paired up with Allison Holker, but the duo just weren’t destined to be that year’s champions. The actor puts it another way…
“I did horrible on ‘Dancing With the Stars,'” Bennett said while talking to Just Jared during the Dance Party to End ALZ event that took place on Sunday, September 13, in Los Angeles. He also noted, “I think on Broadway, I’m a fantastic dancer. On ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I’m a horrible dancer.”
“I went home third,” Bennett continued (and is actually wrong about that fact, but we’ll address that in a minute). He added, “Tommy Chong, who was like 70-something years old made it farther than I did, so if that tells you anything about my dancing, it’s that.”
‘DWTS’ Season 19 Featured a Stellar Cast of Celeb Competitors
When Bennett stepped up to compete on “Dancing With the Stars” for the show’s 19th season, he was up against an impressive group of performers.
Olympic athlete Lolo Jones was paired with Keo Motsepe (they were eliminated first), while television and radio broadcaster Tavis Smiley teamed up with Sharna Burgess (eliminated second). UFC mixed martial artist Randy Couture danced alongside Karina Smirnoff (eliminated third), and fashion designer Betsey Johnson showed off her moves with Tony Dovolani (eliminated fourth).
Bennett and Holker were eliminated fifth (not third as he thought), and were followed by fellow “General Hospital” actor Antonio Sabàto Jr. and Cheryl Burke (eliminated sixth), NASCAR racer Michael Waltrip and Emma Slater (eliminated seventh), actress Lea Thompson and Artem Chigvintsev (eliminated eigth), comedian/actor Tommy Chong and Peta Murgatroyd (eliminated ninth), as well as YouTube personality Bethany Mota and Derek Hough (eliminated tenth).
As for the top performers, “Pretty Little Liars” actress Janel Parrish and Valentin Chmerkovskiy finished in third place, “Duck Dynasty” star Sadie Robertson and Mark Ballas came in second, and Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson were crowned the champions — and he, of course, eventually went on to become the show’s host.
While talking about his win at the time with the show’s co-host, Tom Bergeron, Ribeiro was crying, according to ABC News, and admitted, “I cannot believe this. I’ve wanted it forever … I don’t even know what to say. These are happy tears.”
Carson also addressed the win right after it happened, calling Ribeiro “one of the most hardworking people [she’d] ever met,” before telling him, “You deserve it.”
While Bennett’s fans were likely disappointed that he didn’t win (or stick around longer than he did), there’s surely no doubt that Ribiero was a delight to watch on the “DWTS” dancefloor along with the rest of the stars from Season 19.
