‘DWTS’: Sharna Burgess Eliminated, Ending Comeback Season and Followup to Season 27 Win

Dancing With the Stars pro dancer Sharna Burgess‘ comeback season came to an end earlier than she hoped on Monday night. Burgess took Season 28 off after winning Season 27 with Bobby Bones but returned for Season 29 to dance with former Desperate Housewives actor Jesse Metcalfe. The two danced to Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” during ’80s Night, but failed to impress the judges and the audience at home.

Metcalfe and Burgess earned decent scores throughout their run on the show but failed to have a perfect, breakthrough performance. Monday night’s dance did not help their cause. They earned a 19/30, tying with Chrishell Stause and Gleb Savchenko for the lowest scores on the night. Burgess and Metcalfe were in the bottom two, along with Vernon Davis and Peta Murgatroyd. All three judges chose to save David and Murgatroyd, meaning Burgess and Metcalfe were heading home.

The Australian Burgess, 35, has been a fan-favorite pro dancer for the past few seasons. She joined in Season 13 as a troupe dancer and was promoted to pro in Season 16, paired with Andy Dick. In Season 27, she won her first mirror ball trophy with country radio host Bones, despite their low scores from the judges. Burgess was surprisingly not asked back for Season 28, which shocked fans. When Burgess was on the list of pros returning for Season 29, though, everyone celebrated the news, including Burgess, of course.

In an Instagram post last month, Burgess said coming back to DWTS made her realize the importance of working out after slacking while quarantining. After she was invited back, she realized she had to snap into action. “It was fine, I LOOK FINE, I am not fat-shaming myself [laughing out loud]. BUT, I didn’t feel connected to my core, didn’t feel the strength in my body and didn’t see the tone that I wanted,” she wrote. “Because I wasn’t over the last few months honoring what my body needed with the excuse of ‘well.. COVID’ I was no longer feeling good about what I was seeing and feeling. I wasn’t feeling my physical body accomplish anything of merit when it’s used to doing that every day. No wonder I was feeling off.”

After last week’s episode, Burgess revealed she was dancing with an injury. Her costume for the dance to Santana and Rob Thomas’ “Smooth” revealed she was wearing a wrap on her ankle. She started wearing it during the first week of the season and had to dance wearing flat shoes early on. “Sharna, she’s an absolute warrior. She didn’t want to make a storyline out of her ankle but she had a severely rolled ankle in week one,” Metcalfe told Entertainment Tonight, noting that they didn’t talk about it on the show because they “didn’t want to steal anyone’s storyline.”