Longtime “Dancing With the Stars” pro Cheryl Burke has no interest in returning to the program.
“I’m done with that. Feelings aside. I just have zero interest in teaching another celebrity how to dance, to be quite honest,” Burke told Us Weekly in an article published on September 27. “I don’t think I would be in a spot where it would be so easy for me to get sucked back in a way where it starts to define me again. And I’m still a little vulnerable to say, ‘OK, I’m ready to do that,’” she added.
Burke announced her decision to leave “Dancing With the Stars” during season 31. In the time since, she has been focused on other projects, including her DWTS-based “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast.
Cheryl Burke Previously Said She Probably Wouldn’t Return to DWTS in any Capacity
Burke has been consistent in her responses whenever she’s been asked about a potential “Dancing With the Stars” return.
“I’m never going to perform on the show, not just because of their decision, but I don’t think I’d ever want to perform on the show again, not out of ego, just because like I, it’s done,” Burke said on the April 29, 2024, episode of her “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast.
“This chapter has, is, it’s shut down, it’s shut down. We’re gonna move on to the next chapter, but it’s really hard to have to come to Jesus with that situation. Like the fact that I always wanted to have a little, like a foot in no matter what, you know,” she added.
Burke has been open about wanting to judge the show, given her ballroom experience, but she’s never been asked.
“They are very well aware that I want that seat. It’s not that I just want it. I just know that I can contribute because I am an expert in ballroom dancing. I can say that with confidence,” she told Variety in November 2022, referring to Len Goodman’s empty seat following his retirement.
Goodman died in April 2023.
Cheryl Burke’s ‘Dancing’ Days Are Over
After parting ways with “Dancing With the Stars,” Burke hasn’t been back in the ballroom at all. Most notably, Burke didn’t partake in the Len Goodman tribute in 2023. But she wasn’t given a choice.
“I can only assume. Obviously I would guess it was the podcast. But hopefully now they understand that there’s no harm in this podcast whatsoever. We don’t even talk about the show until the end and most of the interview [is] about them,” she told Us Weekly in September 2024.
In another interview, Burke talked a bit more about the snub.
“I would assume that some people may not be happy with my podcast that I have,” Burke said on the April 16 episode of the “Amy and T.J. Podcast.”
“First of all, I found out when everyone else found out and that was just such a stab in the heart like for me. It was like I just couldn’t believe that I wasn’t included in just something so special. Like, regardless, if you want to look up OG in the dictionary, regardless. Like, I should have been there like we all know this. [And I at] least have been in the audience maybe, you know. But clearly that wasn’t the case,” she added.
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