‘Dancing With the Stars’: Sharna Burgess Returns to Ballroom for Season 29

Sharna Burgess is back in the ballroom! After sitting one season out, the Dancing With the Stars pro is back on the roster, ABC announced Tuesday alongside the Monday, Sept. 14 premiere date. Fans were shocked last season when Burgess, who won Season 27 alongside Bobby Bones, was cut from the pro roster during last year’s season, but she’ll be dancing with a new celebrity partner in her quest for the Mirror Ball come September.

Other returning pros are: Sasha Farber, Pasha Pashkov, Jenna Johnson, Emma Slater, Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten, Val Chmerkovskiy, Peta Murgatroyd, Gleb Savchenko, Cheryl Burke and Keo Motsepe. There are two new pros as well, Britt Stewart, 30, who was the first Black female pro to have a full-time role in the show when joining the troupe in Season 23, and Daniella Karagach, 27, who was part of the troupe last season and is married to Pashkov. The celebrity competitors for this season have yet to be announced.

Burgess’ return to the ballroom has been a long time coming for the dancer, who told Us Weekly earlier this month that she would be more than happy to return to DWTS if asked. “If they ask me, I will jump up and down — [I] might do the ugly cry,” the Aussie dancer said at the time. “I’m not sure. You know, I missed my family. I miss dancing. I miss creating. I miss teaching.” At the time, Burgess added she had not heard anything from Dancing With the Stars producers, but she “certainly wasn’t ready” to leave the show behind last year. “I’ve still got more in me,” Burgess insisted at the time.

The new season of Dancing With the Stars will be the first since ABC’s announcement that longtime hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews had been replaced with Tyra Banks. “As we embark on a new creative direction, he departs the show with our sincerest thanks and gratitude for his trademark wit and charm that helped make this show a success. Erin will also not be returning, and we appreciate all that she brought to the ballroom,” ABC said in a statement at the time. “Fans have been rooting for her since she originally competed as a contestant back in 2010, and her signature sense of humor has become a hallmark of the show.”

To watch the grand return of the pros and their mystery celebrity partners to the ballroom, tune in to Dancing With the Stars returns for Season 29 on Monday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. For more on Dancing With the Stars from PopCulture, click here.