Cheryl Burke Had to ‘Fight’ to Get Farewell Dance on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Cheryl Burke is disclosing extra particulars about her contentious farewell from Dancing With the Stars. 

On the April 28 episode of her Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans podcast, the previous DWTS professional, 39 — who left the present in 2022 after 17 years — stated her remaining dance through the season 31 finale wasn’t simple to accumulate. 

“It was a fight,” Burke claimed of her farewell efficiency. “It wasn’t just given to me, like ‘Oh, okay, we’re going to do a beautiful send-off. It was a fight that my team had to really put their foot down and basically put everything into perspective for them. Like, ‘Wow, you don’t want to give her anything, not even a little goodbye?’”

Although she clarified that her departure was voluntary, Burke wished a promotion she and her group knew was by no means coming.  

“Did I really want to leave it for good and be done? No,” the podcast host admitted. 

Burke referred to as the chance for a goodbye dance “the least” that executives might have accomplished for her after she “consistently” confirmed up since 2005 however expressed frustration at how a lot she needed to push.

“What’s interesting leading up to it, it was almost like I didn’t even want to do it anymore because I can tell that it wasn’t necessarily their idea,” she defined.

Closing the episode, she promised that it might be the final time she would tackle the difficulty outdoors of asking company about their experiences on the present. 

“I do feel closure,” she concluded. “I have no ill will towards anyone, really, but I could still be really hurt and disappointed that I’ve lost friendships along the way, and that is called grieving. And everyone grieves differently, and for me, because a lot of these people I’ve known for almost two decades, it’s going to take time to really put that to rest.”

PEOPLE has reached out to ABC for remark.

The two-time mirrorball trophy winner not too long ago opened up about her exit from DWTS on the Amy & T.J. podcast. When requested which “divorce” was more durable — the present or her cut up from ex-husband Matthew Lawrence — Burke confidently answered the previous.

“Hands down. You can’t compare,” she stated.

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Despite collaborating in 26 seasons of the competitors sequence, Burke was not invited again to pay tribute to late decide Len Goodman through the present’s “Most Memorable Year” episode in October 2023. She speculated that her iHeartRadio podcast performed a task within the snub.

“At the end of the day, everyone can say about this show is that they took something away from the show and it made them into a better person somehow,” she additionally stated on the Amy & T.J. podcast. “I always am going back to the fact that I am in gratitude for my experience and my time with the network.”

Whether she nonetheless feels a way of household within the DWTS group, she stated concisely, “Definitely not.”