Fans Think Retired DWTS Pro Hinted at Season 33 Return

Heavy/Getty Cheryl Burke teased a season 33 return.

Former “Dancing With the Stars” pro Cheryl Burke teased that she’d be back on season 33. The idea came from a TikTok that she shared in March 2024, two years after announcing her retirement.

“Season 33 here we come,” she captioned a TikTok. In the video, she busted a move with “Step Aside” actor, Markell Washington.

It didn’t take long for fans to wonder if Burke meant she would be returning to the show. Dozens of questions started rolling in about her future on DWTS. Burke hadn’t responded to any of the chatter at the time of this writing.

And while some people questioned if Burke would be back, others found themselves wondering if Washington would be cast. It seems most likely, however, that Burke was merely joking about returning. to the show as she and Washington were dancing together.

Here’s what you need to know:

If Cheryl Burke Returned to ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ Fans Would Be Surprised

Aside from the comments that racked up on TikTok, some fans took to Reddit to respond to Burke’s confusing caption.

“I don’t think she’ll come back, but when I saw this I found it interesting she said it too since she was very clear about retiring. I could see markell being cast next season though,” one Redditor said.

“Cheryl has said many times on her podcast that she is retired. I think she is campaigning for him. He really wants to do the show, but they’ll probably hold that against him,” someone else wrote.

“I’ll be shocked if she ever does return, as she retired and had that big farewell dance, in addition to whatever went down with the tribute, as well as her podcast, so I was surprised eoth the choice of caption. Markell would be pretty popular with the Gen-Z audience I think, so I could definitely see him being asked,” a third fan weighed in.

“Interesting but I don’t think she’ll be asked back, something tells me it was production that didn’t want to bring her back so she essentially was ‘forced’ to retire. Markell has been campaigning to be on s33 since last season, he went to almost every live show to support Harry and has said he wants to be paired with either Rylee or Daniella. He also knows Emma and is friends with some lady on production. So yeah I’m kinda expecting him to be on,” another comment read.

Cheryl Burke Called Her Decision to Leave DWTS ‘Scary’

Burke announced her decision to leave “Dancing With the Stars” following season 31. She danced with Sam Champion that year, and the two finished in 13th place.

“I think my decision to leave the show was scary. It had been 26 seasons. Either I was going to make the decision or when I was 50, they were,” Burke told People magazine in January.

Burke was a staple on the show for many years. She won two consecutive Mirrorball trophies; one in season 2 with Drew Lachey, and the other on season 3 with Emmitt Smith.

In the time since her retirement, Burke started a behind-the-scenes DWTS podcast called “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans.” Each week, she interviews a past contestant and gets some inside scoop from the people who have experienced the show first-hand.

So far, Burke has interviewed Anna Trebunskaya, Sharna Burgess, Louis van Amstel, Sabrina Bryan, Kristi Yamaguchi, and more.

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