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Sharna Burgess Speaks Out About Bonner Bolton’s ‘Handgate’ After ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Premiere

Eye roll! Sharna Burgess was able to laugh off “handgate” after Dancing With the Stars‘ season 24 premiere on Monday, March 20, until some viewers took it too far. Watch the awkward moment in the video above! 

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Last night, Burgess’ partner, Bonner Bolton, accidentally placed his hand near her crotch following Nick Viall and Peta Murgatroyd’s performance. Burgess, 31, quickly pushed his arm away, but the awkward moment was captured on camera, and viewers were quick to react.

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“Loverz its #clapbackseason Lets talk about the awkward hand… actually since I’ve had #nipplegate already, lets just call it #handgate,” Burgess tweeted on Tuesday, March 21. “Anyone who has the ridiculous idea that it was intentional…is straight up stupid. As in lacking the intelligence to realize it was innocent.”

Sharna Burgess and Bonner Bolton
Sharna Burgess and Bonner Bolton on Dancing with The Stars. Eric McCandless/ABC Via Getty Images

Bolton also spoke to Entertainment Tonight about it. “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,” he said. “There was some hand placement that went south, so to speak.”

Related: 'DWTS' Season 24 Official Cast Revealed!

The Aussie native and Bolton would have made headlines even without the handsy mishap. It was obvious from their first pretaped package that the two have chemistry.

“I was telling her before we started tonight, I said, ‘I can’t look at you for too long, I feel like I might get distracted’ and maybe that’s why I missed some of my steps,” Bolton told Us Weekly after the show.

“I am a professional!” Burgess chimed in. “We have great chemistry and we have a lot of fun, but first and foremost we’re just trying to do a great job in this competition. I want to stay in it to tell his story, I want everyone to get to know him and I want to take this man to the final. And that is our priority! I think everyone’s making a big deal about our obvious chemistry.”

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