Jason Mraz nearly won Dancing with the Stars despite telling friends to “stop voting” for him.
The singer recently opened up about his appearance on ABC’s dance competition show, where he partnered with professional dancer Daniella Karagach.
Mraz competed on DWTS Season 32 with celebrity contestants, including actor Barry Williams, Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix, Too Hot to Handle’s Harry Jowsey, and former NFL running back Adrian Peterson.
Ultimately, Marvel star Xochitl Gomez won the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy with her dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
Mraz and Karagach finished as the runner-up couple due to their dance skills and his popularity with voters.
He shared the surprising reason for wanting to leave the show and telling friends not to vote anymore.
Mraz was ready to ‘go home’ from DWTS Season 32
Earlier this week, Mraz was a guest on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast. He felt DWTS was taking over his life, so he told friends to stop voting for him on the show.
“Two or three weeks in, I realized I’m probably going to be here the whole time, and I’m terrified, and I have to cancel all my plans for the entire rest of the year, and I’m missing my cat terribly,” the singer admitted.
“I start telling my friends, ‘Stop voting for me!’” he said on the podcast, adding, “I was like, the only way I can get off this show is if I don’t get enough votes.”
Mraz indicated he even told producers he was ready to “go home,” but they said it wasn’t up to them to decide.
Due to not having any other options, he said he tried to tell friends to stop voting for him in the hopes he’d get eliminated.
His plan didn’t work out as he’d hoped, as he and Daniella continued to excel with their dance routines. The votes continued to come in for them each week until they finished as runner-ups in the finale.
Mraz said he’d ‘go back’ on DWTS and ‘try really hard’
Mraz, who hails from Mechanicsville, Virginia, rose to fame in 2002 with his hit single The Remedy (I Won’t Worry) and debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come.
He followed that up with multiple albums reaching the top 10 on the United States Billboard charts.
Despite confessing he was ready to leave during his DWTS season, he also spoke fondly of his experience on the show.
“It was the hardest thing ever but it was so fun,” Mraz admitted.
He also called it an “honor” to be asked to be one of the celebrities called for the show.
Regarding his runner-up finish despite wanting to leave Season 32, Mraz joked that he wondered what might have been if he’d approached things differently while competing on the dance show.
“Having made it all the way to the very end, made it to the buzzer, I look back and laugh and think, ‘Well, maybe if I’d actually given a s***!'” he said.
“So, I would do it all over again if I could, and I would try really hard,” Mraz said on the podcast.
Dancing with the Stars Season 33 premiere is TBA for ABC and Disney+.