‘DWTS’: Brooke Burke Addresses Reasons for Her Sudden Exit From Show

Brooke Burke has been looking back at her firing as co-host of Dancing With the Stars and the self-doubt she faced at the time.

The 54-year-old former model appeared on the latest episode of The Tamsen Show podcast, where she discussed her time on DWTS and her eventual departure. Burke won the dance competition series in Season 7 and went on to co-host alongside Tom Bergeron from Season 10 to Season 17. She was let go in 2013 and replaced by ESPN's Erin Andrews .

"My contract was up; it was being renegotiated," Burke said, per Entertainment Weekly . She revealed that her dressing room was being painted when the show's producers called her and told her they were "making a change, and that I wouldn't be returning" after season 17.

The Penn & Teller: Fool Us host admitted that a lot of self-doubt ran through her mind at the time. "Was it me? Nobody that loves you breaks up with you. If they really loved me, was I good enough? What kind of work was I really bringing to the ballroom? Was it my age? Are they looking for a change? Was it culture? Was it ethnicity?" she stated.

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Eventually, Burke found a level of peace with the decision and "had to chalk it up as that's the industry and sometimes it's time for change, and maybe there was a bigger reason unknown to me, which is the hard part of navigating the industry."

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She said she tried to focus on the positives, saying, "I was like, 'I've been here for eight years, I won Dancing With the Stars, amazing. I had the privilege and the blessing to host the show.'"

However, there was also the fear of what came next, especially since she was building a new house and raising four children at home. "My options and my commitment as a mother, I wasn't going to really explore a lot of the opportunities because I wanted to be home first and foremost; my priority was to be a mother," she stated.

When host Tamsen Fadal asked if she ever found an answer to why she was fired, Burke replied, "There really wasn't an answer, other than they wanted to make a change. The host they chose was very relevant at the time, maybe press-worthy. Maybe there was some harmony there with sports and hosting with Erin. She did an absolutely fine job."

Dancing With the Stars , Season 35 Premiere, Tuesday, September 15, 8/7c, ABC

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