Heavy/Getty/ABC Tom Bergeron.
“Dancing With the Stars” alum Sara Evans opened up about her sudden withdrawal from the show in season 3 nearly 20 years ago. The country singer had been partnered with Tony Dovolani when she announced her exit from the competition in October 2006.
Evans became the first celebrity to ever withdraw from the ABC celebrity ballroom competition, according to Screenrant.
But in an April 2024 sit-down with her manager Craig Dunn on her “Diving in Deep” podcast, Evans, 53, made a bold claim about what would have happened had she stayed in the competition. “I probably would have won,” she said. “I probably would have won.”
Former NFL player Emmitt Smith and pro dancer Cheryl Burke ultimately won the mirrorball trophy that season.
According to DWTS Fandom, Evans’ highest score on “Dancing With the Stars” was 25 points for a jive, and her lowest was 15 points for a foxtrot, thus making her average score 21 out of 30 points. Smith, who danced more times than Evans did, ended his season with an average score of 26.8 after earning several perfect scores of 30.
Sara Evans Withdrew From DWTS in Week 6 Due to Her Impending Divorce
Heavy/ABCSara Evans and Tony Dovolani on “Dancing With the Stars.”
Evans shocked fans with her sudden departure from the DWTS competition in 2006. At the time, she was going through a difficult period with her husband Craig Schelske, whom she married in 1993. Schelske had been a regular in the DWTS audience.
“As I was appearing on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ the marriage was breaking down,” Evans said on her podcast. “I would be on ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ and you could see some of the episodes, my eyes were just blood red swollen because I’d been crying the whole day. …I knew that I needed to get out of the marriage.”
Evans, who shares three kids with Schelske, declined to reveal exactly what the issues were in her marriage. But she did allege that her ex displayed “bad” behavior that caused her to realize, “I don’t want to raise these children with him, with this.”
She called divorce attorneys mid-way through her DWTS run after a concerning incident happened at a restaurant with her kids following a taping for the ABC dance-off.
“I had to quit ‘Dancing with the Stars’ because the next day we were going to start the group dance rehearsals and because of the trauma that my children went through at the restaurant,” she said on the podcast. “My kids were traumatized and I’m not leaving them for five seconds, and so I have to quit the show.”
Evans went on to marry former NFL player Jay Barker in 2008, according to Us Weekly.
Sara Evans Spoke to Tom Bergeron About Her Exit
GettySara Evans in 2006.
When Evans first announced her DWTS departure, details were scarce.
According to the Herald Tribune, Sony BMG Music Entertainment rep Allen Brown confirmed Evans filed for divorce. “Recent events that shed light on the status of her marriage prompted Ms. Evans to make the filing,” Brown said. He added that the “Born to Fly” singer withdrew from DWTS so she could “give her family her full attention.”
At the time, Today.com reported that Evans cited “irreconcilable differences,” “inappropriate marital conduct,” and “adultery” as reasons for the divorce.
Evans closed out her DWTS run with a pre-taped segment with host Tom Bergeron. According to People magazine, the singer predicted she “would have had a nervous breakdown” if she had stayed on the show. She shared that her marriage “drastically” declined during the weeks she was in the DWTS competition and that she could no longer be away from her kids following a series of disturbing incidents.
“I knew that nothing in my career, no television show, nothing was more important than that,” she said of making the decision to be home with her kids.
During a 2022 appearance on “The Talk,” Evans expressed regret over her early exit from DWTS. “I had to quit. It was so sad and I really want to come back,” she shared. “I would love to try it again.”
“Dancing With the Stars” judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who was a co-host on “The Talk” at the time, supported the idea. “We would love that. That would be amazing,” Inaba said. “I would love to see you finish out the season you never got to finish. Let’s see if we can make that happen maybe one day.”
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