Beloved ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Pro Addresses Reports That She’s Leaving Show

Emma Slater is addressing rumors that she’s leaving Dancing With the Stars after more than a decade.

The pro dancer, who joined the ABC dance competition back in 2013’s Season 17, sat down with her Season 34 partner, Andy Richter, to discuss her career on the show during Tuesday’s episode of Richter’s SiriusXM podcast Three Questions with Andy Richter.

“Actually, someone came up to me last week and was like, ‘Are the rumors true?’ and I was like, ‘What rumor?’ They said, ‘Are you retiring this year?’” Slater, 37, said on the show. “And I could see how a rumor like that would be starting, because they’re looking at me like, ‘She’s the old girl.’”

Slater shot down the speculation that she was hanging up her dance shoes on her own volition, saying that she has had “the most incredible time” on the show and had no plans of leaving anytime soon.

“I would like it to be on my decision, I think,” Slater said of her eventual exit. “But I’ve decided that I’m going to expect to be there, and if and when they say I’m not invited anymore, I’ll conquer that when it happens.”

If she were ever asked not to return, Slater said that she would be interested in working behind the scenes on DWTS. “I guess, in my mind, you put limitations on yourself, saying, ‘Well, how many years do I have?’ I’m just gonna keep going. And then try to take out that restriction on myself until I don’t have the use of what they’re looking for, and then I’ll try to stick around in some other form. The brand is doing so well, and I like to produce. So maybe I’ll be like, ‘Make me a producer!’ or something.”

Richter, 59, then joked that he didn’t know how Slater could top her season with him, joking that she had “been to the mountain top,” despite their lack of a Mirrorball Trophy.

“Oh, we certainly did, and that’s how I measure success, by the way,” she said more seriously. “Getting to dance with you, I’m being serious. That to me — I don’t know where I’m going to go from that. I don’t know how I’m going to get another season like that.”

Slater said that even after more than a decade on ABC, her partners are the key to her success. “I will embrace them and make my entire world about bringing them forward and making them feel amazing,” she explained, “and that’s probably the lifeline saving me.”

“As long as I feel authentic and comfortable, I want to go as long as possible,” she went on. “And then as soon as I feel like I’m going to be choked out, I’ll pull the ageism thing. ‘This is what Hollywood does to women as they age!’”