Sharna Burgess, 34, may not be featured on this season’s Dancing with the Stars, but she’s got a good reason for it and counting her blessings along the way. The ballroom dancer, who won the last season of the competition show along with her partner Bobby Bones, has been a part of the series for the past 12 seasons but she admitted her absence this time around is simply because the show’s producers just couldn’t find a partner for her.
“It was a case of they just couldn’t match me up with a partner this season and that’s okay,” she EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife at Debbie Durkin’s 13th Annual ECOLUXE ‘Endless Summer Festival’ during Emmy’s weekend. “It happens. It has been known to happen in the past. It was tough being the reigning champ and not really ever thinking that this would happen. But, again there’s a whole new team at Dancing with the Stars that are trying to revamp the show into a different way. I think they’re doing a great job at it and they decided that for this season I wasn’t right. But it’s been made very clear that they hope they can have me in the family for things coming up in the future.”
The Australian talent is not harboring any bad feeling towards the series and that future seems to very much be definite. “There’s no love lost between me and Dancing with the Stars,” she assured. “They’re wonderful. I just had lunch today with one of our producers over at BBC and we’re talking about future things. So it’s all very exciting and it’s kind of a blessing to have this time to really explore other things for me. So I’m actually grateful for it. It’s a whole new fall season to me, but of course I’m still supporting the show. I was there last Monday. I’ll be there this Monday. I definitely want to cheer them on. I’m excited for their season.”
In addition to getting excited over the new season, Sharna has been keeping busy with her time off and has even been exploring things she hasn’t been able to before. “I’m doing great. I’m in a really good place,” she gushed. “There’s a lot of new things that have come into my world and I’m really experiencing I think a transition in my career into a whole world of other things I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I have time on my hands to date now, which is unbelievably exciting.”
Although she’s gearing up to date and is enjoying her time of transition, the red-headed beauty admitted she was quick shocked when she found out she wasn’t returning to Dancing with the Stars and had a moment where she needed to make sure she kept her personal feelings in check. “It was like, wait, is this really happening or am I going to wake up soon kind of moment because it was unexpected for me, and I had about 24 hours of processing and then natural feelings of ‘But why?’ and ‘Why don’t they want me?’ I think we would all go through that and then I very clearly understood everything happens for a reason and this is what was meant to happen. There’s a silver lining to everything and it wasn’t personal.”
She went on to insist that it really was just all about business and had nothing to do with her abilities. “It’s not personal that I wasn’t back. It’s a business decision,” she explained. “It was, they have a vision for what this show is and for this season to bring it back, and I wasn’t a part of that and that’s okay. Maybe they didn’t want a flaming red head in the middle of the dance floor. You know what I mean? Whatever the decision was, it’s okay and essentially it doesn’t even matter at this point because I just move forward with whatever I’m doing now.”
Lastly, Sharna is well aware that fans of the show love her and she’s very grateful for the support. “It does feel good. You know what, in a weird way, it feels overwhelming to say that. I don’t want people to feel bad, but it felt beautiful to know, oh yeah, people really cared about my presence on the show too,” she said. “It wasn’t just that I loved being there. Other people loved me being there too. And I was very grateful to hear the love that people had for me and what I’d done.”
She also hopes that love for her can continue with the show this season despite her departure. “I also don’t want people to have a negative emotion towards the show. I want them to support this season,” she went on to say. “I want this show to go on for another 10 years. You know what I mean? I want it to succeed. And that’s really where my heart lies with it. I want this version, this season 28 to be the best show, the best season that we’ve had yet. So we can do 29 and we can do 39.”