Former DWTS Host Brooke Burke Won’t Attend Show’s 20th Birthday Special

former Dancing with the stars Hosts Brooke Burke She will not be returning to the dance floor for her special 20th birthday celebration following her 2014 exit.

Burke, 54, explained why she won’t be attending the upcoming event during the Tuesday, Nov. 4, episode of the show Jennie Garth “I Choose Me” Podcast.

“Reruns are hard for me,” Burke told fellow former contestant Garth, 53. “I think there are some things in your life that are worth repeating, but I feel like I pulled it out and did everything I had to do on this show.”

Burke added that despite the “amazing relationships” she formed during her tenure DWTS As a competitor and co-host, she finally felt like her time on the series was behind her. “It was one of the most watched shows on television. It will be difficult to go back there with the same level of excitement and appreciation,” she said.

For her part, Garth joked that she “also received an email” about the special — which airs Nov. 11 — but she “purposely didn’t read it.”

Both Burke and Garth are paired with former pros Derek Hough – Now a judge on the show – during their respective seasons. Garth landed in the bottom four in Season 5 in 2007, Hugh’s first season, while Burke and Hough returned to the house after two seasons. Burke later hosted the show with Tom Bergeron from seasons 10 to 17.

“I never say no, and I never close doors professionally, but I mean it’s been eight seasons, and I’ve done everything I need to do in the ballroom,” Burke continued, adding that she “had a lot of fun” on the show. DWTS Even though it was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my entire life.”

This isn’t the first time Burke has spoken about her exit from the country DWTS. She opened up about leaving the show during a 2024 episode of Get roasted with a Curtis stoneShe revealed that although she was “ready to do other things” at the time, it was “disappointing” to learn that she was not asked to respond again.

“But I think it’s shocking when there’s a change in our business, just to humanize it and, to be honest, to be vulnerable,” she added. “I think it was really disappointing. I wasn’t expecting that.”

As for the reason for “abandoning” it, Burke said that there are “a number of reasons on both sides.”

Burke detailed how she found out she wouldn’t be returning for Season 18 on her Modern Mom blog shortly after the news broke in 2014.

“The only thing that was shocking to me was the way it all went down,” she wrote, claiming that she found out “just weeks before” the premiere. “I would love to have a heads-up and courtesy in communication, but we don’t always have the privilege of having that in the workplace.”

She also shared how difficult it was to tell her children, who didn’t understand the difference between being laid off and being fired. (Burke shares children Neria, 24, Sierra, 22, Heaven, 18, and Shaya, 16, with their exes Garth Fisher and David Sharett.)

“My son shouted, ‘You got fired, Mom?!’” she recalled her son Shaya asking her. “I tried to explain the difference between getting fired and being laid off. Then he shouted, “I quit!” I laughed at the fine line of it all. Then I did my best to describe to my children the reality of change and the need to maneuver through it with grace.

Burke is not the only one DWTS Cohost would be asked out of the hall over the years. Fans were shocked when original director Bergeron announced in July 2020 that he was co-hosting the show at the time. Erin Andrews He will not return for Season 29.

“I have just been informed that @DancingABC will continue without me,” Bergeron wrote via X at the time. “It’s been an amazing 15-year run and the most unexpected gift in my career. I’m grateful for that and the friendships I’ve made throughout my life. However, what am I supposed to do with all these shiny masks?”

He later appears in an October 2023 episode of the series Cheryl Burke podcast “Sex, Lies and Spray Tans” to discuss his exit, claiming that his desire to keep politics out of the dance floor was partly to blame. (Bergeron was previously talking about Sean Spicer Season 28 pick.)

“I’m sure they’ll give you a different reason [as for why I was fired]”It’s not the same show,” he added, noting that he would “never” return as host. It’s not the same world. There is no point. What will I prove? …Let the show either exist with the fresh blood it has now or die a natural death.

“Dancing with the Stars” The 20th birthday special airs on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesday, November 11 at 8 p.m. ET. It will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.