Scott Hamilton has recently spoken about Madison Chock and Evan Bates in several high‑profile Olympic broadcasts and interviews, and his comments have been strongly positive and admiring.

What he said on air during their free dance

During the Milan–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics team event, Hamilton reacted live to Chock and Bates’ free dance and was essentially overwhelmed by how strong it was.

He said things to the effect of:

  • Their free dance was “beyond” excellent, “so beyond fantastic.”
  • “There’s not enough words. It’s so good.”
  • He described the result as “what we call an old‑fashioned beatdown,” meaning their performance was so dominant it clearly stood above the field.

These remarks were highlighted by NBC itself with the framing that Chock and Bates had Hamilton “speechless,” emphasizing how impressed he was.

What he said after the judging controversy

Following the controversial ice dance results at the 2026 Olympics (where Chock and Bates took silver amid debate over the scoring), Hamilton publicly praised them while many fans were focused on the judging.

On social media, he:

  • Congratulated the dancers on “an awesome night of dance” (paraphrased from a slightly garbled text capture).
  • Said he was “especially proud” of Madison Chock and Evan Bates for delivering one of their “all‑time greatest performances.”

The backlash wasn’t about him criticizing Chock and Bates—it was the opposite. Fans were upset that he praised them and the event without directly calling out what they saw as “clear bias” and “score manipulation” in the judging, especially in relation to the French and Spanish teams, and wanted him to “call out flawed and rigged judging.”

How he framed their silver medal

In follow‑up coverage about Team USA’s results, Hamilton again stressed how strong their skating was and treated their performance as worthy of the highest respect, even though the result was silver.

Key points from his media appearances:

  • He discussed their silver in the context of a “near‑perfect” or “absolute best” performance from them.
  • The narrative he supported was that, performance‑wise, they skated like champions, even if the scores didn’t fully match what many viewers expected.

In short, what Scott Hamilton has said about Chock and Bates is overwhelmingly complimentary: he’s called their Olympic free dance “beyond fantastic,” said there aren’t “enough words” for how good it was, and described himself as especially proud of them for delivering one of their greatest performances, even amid controversy over the judging.

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