Longtime “Dancing With the Stars” pro Sharna Burgess was part of the show’s 500th episode. However, Burgess wasn’t the only former pro who was supposed to take part in the November 12, 2024, show.
During an interview on the “Lightweights” podcast, Burgess explained that the budget caused some changes to be made.
“Deena Katz gave me a call and she’s like, ‘hey!’ … Actually the first thing she did was send out a mass text to a bunch of us. And it was originally gonna be a whole world of pros that had used to been on the show that were gonna be a surprise in this number,” Burgess said on the December 14 episode of the podcast.
“But of course, budgets get moved around. When you’re getting near the end of a show and people have bigger and bigger freestyles or whatever is going on, that money has to get moved to certain places. So I don’t know the ins and the details of why, but it ended up being that there was only one spot that they needed to fill because they needed an extra girl. And so Deena called me and asked if that would be me,” she added.
There were many familiar faces in the live audience, however, including Artem Chigvintsev, Anna Trebunskaya, and Maks Chmerkovskiy.
Many DWTS Fans Were Disappointed by the Show’s 500th Episode
Longtime DWTS fans were expecting some serious magic to take place on the show’s 500th episode. Unfortunately, many felt that the episode really missed the mark.
“The night kicks off with an electrifying opening number,” read a press release from the network, in part. “Plus, get ready for the dazzling return of some fan-favorite faces to the ballroom,” it continued.
Of course, many were super excited to see Burgess dancing in the ballroom again, but others weren’t impressed overall. After the show aired, fans took to Reddit to react and many expressed disappointment over the content of the episode.
Sharna Burgess Would Return to ‘Dancing With the Stars’
Burgess took a season off from DWTS to spend time at home with her son, Zane. She wasn’t asked to join the seasons that followed, but she hasn’t completely closed the door on a possible return.
“If they did ask me, I think I would love to have one more season there with everyone as a way to button it up. After 14 years on the show, it doesn’t feel like it was a beautiful way for it to end after so much love and so much memory,” she told E! News in an article published on October 9, 2024.
And, since Conrad Green is back as an executive producer, it seems Burgess would really consider an offer.
“The fact that he’s back makes it very, very, very tempting to come back and do another season,” she said on “Lightweights.”
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