Heavy/ABC A "Dancing With the Stars" pro was upset.
Cheryl Burke said she nearly cried for her “Dancing With the Stars” partner Rob Kardashian when he was booed by the audience. Burke was partnered with the former “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star in season 13 back in 2011.
In a February 2024 episode of her podcast “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans,” Burke theorized that viewers felt like Kardashian deserved harsh treatment due to his status as a rich reality TV kid.
“Rob Kardashian, when I danced with him, it was like people were booing at him,” Burke said on her podcast. “I was going to cry for him. People were booing at us when we were walking out from—back then it was the red room—backstage. And then they aired our package and they cut the package to make it look like he was a spoiled brat. Because like there was a few soundbites that I had said, like ‘Get to work’ or whatever. But this poor man. Like, it really messed with his head.”
Cheryl Burke Previously Recalled the Painful Moment
GettyCheryl Burke dances with Rob Kardashian.
In a previous interview, Burke admitted that one of the things she loves about “Dancing With the Stars” is that people sometimes root for the “underdog.” Speaking on the “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef” podcast in 2023, she recalled how Kardashian was first perceived by viewers.
“I remember Rob and I came out for week one doing a Vietnamese Waltz. And he got booed because, in our package, he came across like this spoiled kid,” she said. “You know, you can edit anything together. And literally, people were booing at him.”
Burke admitted that she at first had issues getting Kardashian to rehearse with her, but it wasn’t due to laziness on his part. “It was really hard for me initially to get his [expletive] in the studio because he was so nervous,” she told Yontef.
In the end, Kardashian won over the judges and the fans. He landed in the runner-up spot that season, right behind mirrorball champs J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff.
Cheryl Burke Said Kardashian Was ‘Robbed’ of the Mirrorball Trophy
GettyCheryl Burke and Rob Kardashian.
Burke has raved about her partnership with Kardashian. In a 2018 interview with Page Six, she said he was one of her favorite celebrity partners on the ABC ballroom show. Burke also noted that Kardashian lasted much longer in the competition than his famous sister did several years prior. “He was just so much fun and people didn’t have a lot of expectations with him,” she said. “They thought that he was going to be eliminated before his sister Kim Kardashian did. And then he ended up getting second place.”
Still, Burke felt Kardashian was “robbed” of the top DWTS prize. “I’m not sure if he actually was like ‘I wanna do Dancing.’ Or if he was a little bit just shoved over to Deena Katz our casting director/ EP of the show,” she said. “But you know, the goal was just to beat [Kim] and we came in second place. I actually think that we got robbed, no pun intended. But I definitely think that we should have won for sure.” “I think he deserved it,” she added.
Burke stepped away from DWTS for several seasons before announcing her official retirement from the show in 2022. But she previously teased she’d make a return to the ABC ballroom for Kardashian.
“If Rob Kardashian would come back for ‘Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars,’ I would put my dancing shoes on again,” Burke told Radar Online in 2015. “I wouldn’t necessarily go back on the show, but I would definitely help the guy out.”
READ NEXT: Christie Brinkley Poses for Fearless Swimsuit Photos at Age 70