Sharna Burgess was a fixture on Dancing With the Stars for a decade, but she hasn’t been seen in the ballroom since 2021 when she competed alongside her then-boyfriend, Brian Austin Green. That’s about to change with Season 35, as Burgess returns to the dance competition for the first time in five years, competing with Bachelorette alum Tyler Cameron.
“I can’t wait to be back in the ballroom with my dancing family, and mostly, it feels so good to be coming home,” Burgess said on Good Morning America in August 2026. “I’ll see you all soon.”
But why did Burgess leave the show in the first place? Keep reading for a full breakdown of her history with the ABC competition series.
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When did Sharna Burgess join Dancing With the Stars?
Burgess made her first DWTS appearance during Season 13 in 2011 as a member of the troupe. She became a pro during Season 16, which aired in 2013, and finished in seventh place with celebrity partner Andy Dick.
Burgess went on to compete in Seasons 17 through 27 of the show, partnering with stars including Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter and Olympic gold medalist ice dancer Charlie White.
After producers didn’t ask Burgess back for Season 28, she returned for Seasons 29 and 30. During the latter, which aired in 2021, she and Green became the first real-life couple to compete on the show, finishing in 13th place. They welcomed a son, Zane, in 2022, and announced their engagement the following year.
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Why did Sharna Burgess leave Dancing With the Stars?
Burgess’ first absence from DWTS occurred in Season 28 in 2019 when she was shocked to learn that she was cut from the pro roster after winning the prior season with partner Bobby Bones.
“There was no hint that this would be the case,” she told Entertainment Tonight in September 2019. “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 was back the next year, however, competing on Season 29 with actor Jesse Metcalfe and finishing in 12th place. After season 30, Burgess left the show by choice to focus on starting a family with Green. She later admitted she thought she’d return for Season 32, but the call never came.
“Last season, I was supposed to come back, but Zane was only eight weeks old,” Burgess recalled on a September 2023 episode of her Oldish podcast, referring to season 31. “It just felt like I needed to sit in motherhood with Zane. It was always, ‘I want to come back next year,’ and ‘Of course, we love you, we’ll always have you.’”
When her fellow pros started getting their offers for Season 32, Burgess was surprised that her own phone didn’t ring. “It was such a shock, because I wasn’t expecting it, it was tough,” she said on the podcast. “My last five years on the show have been rocky — not because of the show. I love the show deeply, but we had a new executive producer come in, I think five years ago now. I had just won with Bobby Bones, and he decided to not bring me back. There’s a lot of speculation as to why. My win with Bobby was the most explosive end, controversial win of Dancing With the Stars history. So I got caught up in this whirlwind of hate for that win, which was really yucky.”
Bones and Burgess beat out frontrunners Milo Manheim (with Witney Carson) and Evanna Lynch (with Keo Motsepe) because of fan votes, which led judge Carrie Ann Inaba to claim changes had been made in the scoring system to prevent similar outcomes in the future.
In the same podcast episode, Burgess further claimed that she had a “difficult” partner in Metcalfe for Season 29, though she didn’t name him at the time. She also wasn’t happy with the way her Season 30 story arc focused on her real-life romance with Green. “I did text someone at that time and was like, ‘Hey, this isn’t what we signed up for. If this is what you want for us, you just have to eliminate us because we can’t do this,’” she recalled. “And we were quickly eliminated after that.”
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What has Sharna Burgess said about coming back to Dancing With the Stars?
After her five-year absence, Burgess is thrilled to be dipping and twirling again. “It’s been everything to be back,” she told Entertainment Weekly in September 2026. “It’s like I never left. It’s always home. It’s always a part of me, but I’ve missed it so much. I’m so grateful I get to be a part of it. This cast is incredible, and to have a partner like Tyler, it’s a dream. It’s even, for me, a pinch-me moment that I get to do this again.”
Cameron, meanwhile, described her as a “dream of a partner” who was doing an excellent job at helping him learn the ropes of ballroom dancing.
“That’s my style,” she told EW. “I’m a drill sergeant, a football coach, that’s what my style always is. And he is an athlete that has that mentality, so it’s honestly a perfect match.”
How many times has Sharna Burgess won Dancing With the Stars?
Burgess has won only one season of DWTS, dancing to victory in 2018 with celebrity partner Bones on season 27. Their win caused controversy at the time because it was seemingly propelled by fan votes. Former host Tom Bergeron said in 2025 that Bones’ win was the one that shocked him the most during his tenure with the show — but later apologized for his remarks after Bones sent his Mirrorball trophy back to ABC.
“Bobby, it wasn’t my intention to hurt your feelings. My ‘ouch’ was based on my honest feeling that your win spoke to a need to address the balance between judge and viewer voting,” Bergeron wrote via Instagram in November 2025. “I always felt bad that you & Sharna had to deal with the aftermath of that win & I certainly regret pouring any salt into that old wound.”
Related: ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Season 35 Cast Revealed: Giada De Laurentiis, Jenna Dewan and Julia Stiles to Compete
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