Why Did Sharna Burgess Leave ‘Dancing With the Stars’? What to Know Before Her Season 35 Comeback

Sharna Burgess confirmed her return to Dancing With the Stars for season 35 after a four-year absence, last competing with fiancé, Brian Austin Green, in 2021.The pro dancer previously won the mirrorball trophy with Bobby Bones in 2018 and made history as the first real-life couple to compete with Brian in season 30.Here’s why she didn’t return to the show in the five years since her initial departure.It’s official: Pro dancer Sharna Burgess is back for season 35 of Dancing With the Stars. She last competed on the reality series with her fiancé, Brian Austin Green, as her celebrity partner in 2021, and according to a Good Morning America announcement on August 24, she’s returning to the iconic ballroom for another shot at the mirror ball trophy.“I can’t wait to be back in the ballroom with my dancing family, and mostly, it feels so good to be coming home,” she said, in part. “I’ll see you all soon.”Sharna competed as a DWTS pro for 14 seasons, starting in 2013, and eventually took home the prize with radio and TV personality Bobby Bones in 2018. (Although Julianne Hough didn’t seem to think they deserved it at the time. Womp.)Despite fairly securing her win, Sharna wasn’t asked to return the following year. But she came back for season 29 in 2020 and went on to make history with Brian as the first real-life couple to compete on the show’s 30th season in 2021.She permanently exited DWTS after that, but now that she’s back, you may be wondering…why did she even leave to begin with? Allow me to break it down for ya.Why did Sharna Burgess leave DWTS?Back in September 2023, Sharna opened up about how difficult competing on season 30 actually was, since her real-life romance with Brian seemed to take focus.During an episode of her podcast, Old-Ish, at the time, she admitted, “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.’ And we were quickly eliminated after that.”In 2022, she opted out of participating in season 31 to build her family with Brian. The pair welcomed their son, Zane Walker Green, that June before they got engaged the following summer.Christopher Willard//Getty ImagesAfter Sharna focused on raising her son, she shared that she was “shocked” that she wasn’t asked to return for season 32.At the time, she said, “Last season, I was supposed to come back, but Zane was only eight weeks old...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.’”She continued, “It was such a shock, because I wasn’t expecting it, it was toug. 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.”It seems like that’s all water under the bridge, since she’s gracing our screens and hitting choreo with a new celeb on season 35 of Dancing With the Stars!