“Dancing With The Stars” Contestant Sharna Burgess Rejects On-Camera Groping; Bonner Bolton Was “Embarrassed”

“Dancing With The Stars” is involved in a controversy labeled as #Handgate. A moment between contestants Sharna Burgess and Bonner Bolton was caught live during the show’s season 24 broadcast when the latter appeared to be grabbing the former’s sensitive area backstage. This moment has led people to speculate that the two were romantically involved.

Burgess has since dismissed the controversy and insisted that the moment was simply an innocent move. Defending Bolton on Twitter, she wrote, "Anyone who has the ridiculous idea that it was intentional...is straight up stupid. As in lacking [the] intelligence to realize it was innocent."

"@bonner_bolton's a true southern gentleman & was so embarrassed that it even happened let alone got caught on camera for gossips to gawk at."

Burgess also told told E! News' Sibley Scoles immediately after their performance that whatever people think they really have, it’s probably because of their amazing chemistry. She added, "Obviously we have chemistry. We're not going to stand here and lie and say we don't, but everyone made such a big deal tonight that I didn't really know what to say to it."

Bolton has since said his side of the story, and explained that the grabbing was “totally unintentional.” Telling Entertainment Tonight, he said, "I was just stargazed by Nick and Peta's performance and I was looking at the TV screen. I felt her bump into me yet I wasn't really looking at what was bumping into me. There was some hand placement that went south, so to speak."