Cheryl Burke Thinks Guests Have Pulled Out of Her Podcast Because of Her Rift With ‘DWTS’ Execs

Cheryl Burke is getting real about her rift with Dancing With the Stars since her departure from the show in 2022.

“I didn’t want to leave the show. This was my family,” Burke, 39, tearfully shared with Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes on the Tuesday, April 16, episode of their podcast. “That was my identity in every way. … [But] I felt like it was time for me to grow and evolve in my career.”

When asked why she didn’t return to the show for Len Goodman’s tribute in October 2023 (Goodman, who served as a judge on the for 17 years since its premiere, died of prostate cancer in April 2023), Burke shared that it was because the decision-makers at DWTS were not happy with her podcast.

“I found out [about Len’s tribute] when everyone else found out. And that was just a stab in the heart for me. I just couldn’t believe that I wasn’t included in something so special,” Burke said. “More than anything, I just feel really sad. I’m still so sad. I’m not even mad anymore.”

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According to Burke, she asked why she wasn’t included via her representatives, and she was told it was because of her podcast.

“It just makes me believe that they’re not listening to it or something,” Burke said. “Of course, on social media, we need to attract listeners, and unfortunately with that, you have to put clips together that may sound a little like, oh, she’s just bashing the show. No, that’s not what the podcast is. It’s telling the honest truth.”

Burke — who was a pro dancer on DWTS for 26 seasons, earning two mirrorball trophies during her tenure — launched her podcast, “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” in September 2023, sharing her behind-the-scenes experiences on the show, often alongside past celebrity dancers. “She knows the secrets, the behind the scenes arguments and the affairs, the flings, the flirting and the fighting,” reads the podcast’s description. “It’s time to tell all.”

Burke also suspects that guests she had booked for the podcast who suddenly dropped out were swayed by the powers that be at DWTS.

“I do know of some guests who have said yes to the show and then all of the sudden said no,” she said on Holmes and Robach’s show. “I don’t know who, what, where, when, how it all happened, but I can only assume, and my feeling is that someone who isn’t happy with the podcast may have been an influence.”

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Yet at the end of the day, Burke is grateful for her time on DWTS and looks back on those memories fondly.

“Are there things that are not necessarily all glitter and rhinestones and all of it? Of course. Because with every experience, there’s the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it,” Burke said. “[But] I am always going back to the fact that I am in gratitude for my experience and my time with the network and with Dancing With the Stars in general.”