‘Dancing With the Stars’ Pro Sharna Burgess Teases What’s Ahead for ABC Series

Sharna Burgess was shocked when she found out Dancing With the Stars would not be returning in the spring.

The professional dancer, who recently took home the mirrorball trophy alongside her dance partner, radio personality Bobby Bones, opened up about the surprising scheduling change.

“When the news came out I was incredibly surprised,” Burgess told Entertainment Tonight. “I knew it was a bit of a conversation, there was a buzz about it.”

She added, bringing up last year’s Athletes season: “Of course, we have [American] Idol now on ABC, and we did try a four-week season last year and it was not a fan favorite… Although it was great, it was just too, too short for us.”

Despite a Dancing-less Spring, Burgess teased that fans of the ABC competition series might want to keep their eyes open for a possible surprise in the summer.

“So, I don’t know if they are planning anything that might be a surprise in the summer,” she told the outlet. “Maybe there’s [another] Juniors. [But] I don’t have info, don’t quote me on it! It’s just a guess on my part.”

Despite this unexpected change in the show’s future, Burgess said that Dancing With the Stars will not be going anywhere.

“We’re trying to figure out what we wanna do with that spring/summer time for us,” she said. “We’re going to confirm that date.”

“This show is such a fan favorite,” she added. “I mean, come on, it’s not going anywhere! We’re gonna do 30, 35, maybe 45 seasons! I’ll have babies and be married, retired by that point, but this is DWTS… it isn’t going anywhere.”

Fans of the reality TV series were shocked when ABC announced Dancing With The Stars would not be returning for its usual spring season following the controversial end in the fall where Bones won the mirrorball trophy. The upset left both fans and the judges wishing that the show would change its voting structure in future seasons.

“ABC has authorized us to say, ‘See you next year’ but exactly when is, as yet, undetermined,” series host Tom Bergeron told a fan on Twitter following the news.

Another longtime fan also asked the host on Twitter at the time: “Please tell me we get a spring season!!” But Bergeron answered at the time, writing “Doubt it.”

“I’m actually kind of excited,” Burgess added in her interview. “Now it’s all settled in, that people are gonna miss us for a little second.”