Sharna Burgess returning to “Dancing With the Stars ”as a pro five years after surprise departure
Sharna Burgess returning to “Dancing With the Stars ”as a pro five years after surprise departure
Ryan ColemanMon, August 24, 2026 at 12:42 PM UTC
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Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green perform on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ in 2021Credit: SHARNA BURGESS, BRIAN AUSTIN GREENKey Points -
Sharna Burgess is returning to Dancing With the Stars.
The season 27 winner and four-time finalist will compete again as a pro on the upcoming 35th season.
Burgess was previously cut from season 28 after the series hired a new executive producer, returned for seasons 29 and 30, and then took maternity leave.
Sharna Burgess is rejoining the Dancing With the Starsfamily!
The former Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy winner and four-time finalist will return as a pro partner for season 35 of the popular reality competition series on ABC.
The news of Burgess’ reinstallment in the legacy franchise’s cast broke where DWTS news tends to — on a Monday segment of Good Morning America. She joins the elite squad of heavy hitters all confirmed for the upcoming 35th season, including season 34 winner and Burgess’ old castmate, Witney Carson, and several new hires, including Rylee Arnold, Ezra Sosa, and Jan Ravnik.
Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin GreenCredit: Joe Scarnici/Getty
Burgess earned her spot in the Dancing With the Stars hall of fame for winning season 27. It remains, without competition, the most controversial win in DWTS history. Not for any fault of Burgess’, but because of some fans’ (and a former host’s, and a current cohost’s) contention that podcaster Bobby Bones was not deserving of the crown.
But she more than proved her mettle across her 14 seasons competing on the show. She took her celebrity partners to the finals four other times across that run, and took home a prize even more valuable than the Mirrorball on her last season — Burgess is currently engaged to her season 30 partner, Brian Austin Green.
No show lasts 35 seasons without its fair share of controversy, and Burgess shouldered some of it across her tenure.
Burgess and fellow pro Artem Chigvintsev were unexpectedly cut from season 28 as DWTS went through a significant internal transformation, one that gave Andrew Llinares creative control as executive producer after Rob Wade’s four-year run as EP.
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“I got the really super sad phone call that was a ‘Is this real life?’ moment for me,” Burgess told Entertainment Tonightin 2019. “I was driving on the freeway on my way to a meeting and I was chatting with our executive producer [Andrew Llinares], and I could hear it the moment he got on the phone, in his voice.”
“There was no hint that this would be the case. There never is, and, by the way, we all go through the same thing every season, we don’t know if we are back until we get that pick up letter,” Burgess explained, adding that there was no explanation beyond, “‘We couldn’t partner you up with anybody this season.’”
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She returned for seasons 29 and 30, but opened up about her “really difficult” time dancing with Jesse Metcalfe on the former season.
“I wasn’t able to be in the room alone with him after the first couple of weeks because of things that happened. And so that was rocky, and we were eliminated very quickly,” she said.
Burgess left the show before season 31 after welcoming son Zane Walker Green into the world. Though she expected the call back for season 32 after her expressing her interest, but that call never came, which Burgess described as a “huge shock.”
DWTS revealed Caron and Jimmy Kimmel Live sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez as the first official couple of season 35 last week. Other celeb partners include The Traitors star Maura Higgins, Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson, and Summer House breakout Ciara Miller.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
