Brooke Burke Recalls 'Shocking' and 'Really Disappointing' Exit from Hosting “DWTS”: 'I Wasn't Expecting It'
"It was for sure a time for a number of reasons on both sides … I think that kind of change is always a bummer," Burke recalled of her 2014 departure from 'Dancing with the Stars'
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Brooke Burke at the Operation Smile Malibu Smile Fest on June 1, 2024 in Malibu, California.Brooke Burke is looking back on her unexpected departure from Dancing with the Stars.
When asked if she had “enough” of being a co-host of the hit ABC dance competition before her exit in 2014 on Getting Grilled with Curtis Stone, Burke, 52, responded, “I probably had enough, but then when you leave something and you think you've had enough, you kind of, in hindsight, look back and want a little bit more.”
“As a host, when you're on a live show, it was a long time and I think I was ready to do other things,” she added. “But I think it's shocking when there's a change in our business, just to humanize it, to be honest, to be vulnerable. I think it was really disappointing. I wasn't expecting it.”
After winning the mirrorball trophy with partner Derek Hough in season 7, Burke replaced Samantha Harris as co-host in season 10 before her departure was announced ahead of season 18.
Despite her surprise, she told Curtis Stone that she can’t “ever have a plan in Hollywood.”
“Things change like that for a variety of reasons,” she continued. “It was for sure a time for a number of reasons on both sides…I think that kind of change is always a bummer.”
ABC did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Related: Brooke Burke Shares Why She and Fiancé Scott Rigsby Haven't Tied the Knot Yet (Exclusive)
In 2004, Burke detailed on her Modern Mom blog how she found out that she would no longer be co-hosting the series.
“The only shocking thing about it, for me, was the way in which it all went down,” she claimed at the time. “Finding out that I would not be returning to the ballroom just weeks before the premiere was quite a shake up. I would have appreciated a heads-up and the courtesy of communication, but we are not always privileged to get that in the workplace.”
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In addition to her own shock, she recalled how she explained to her kids, who were in the car when she received the call, that she was “let go” from the show.
“My son shouted, ‘You got fired Mommy?!’” she recalled. “I tried to explain the difference between being fired and being let go. Then he yelled, ‘You quit!’ I laughed at the fine line in it all. Then I did my very best to describe to my children the reality of change and the need to maneuver through it with grace.”
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