Cheryl Burke Shares Her Advice for Celebrities Considering ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Cheryl Burke is giving more insight into why romances abound on Dancing with the Stars — specifically between pro dancers and their celebrity partners.

“It’s an arranged marriage… And it is black and white. Either love each other or hate each other for real,” the professional dancer, 40, said on the May 31 episode of her podcast, Sex, Lies and Spray Tans, when asked by her guest, PEOPLE senior editor Dave Quinn, why she thinks so many people on the show hook up and date.

Burke went on to note that celebrity contestants’ relationships with their dance partners tend to be either extreme love or extreme dislike due to the amount of time they spend together if they’re dedicated to the competition.

She also said that the celebrities have to be “vulnerable,” something that might be completely new to stars who are used to acting or being true to a specific brand all the time.

“It’s so intimate, and you’re stuck with this person…you better try and make it work at least,” she said, after naming a former celebrity contestant who admitted to developing a crush on his dance partner although they were both married at the time and the relationship didn’t progress.

“You get close in so many ways. These celebrities are so vulnerable because in order to succeed you have to strip it all down. And that alone? I bet you most of these married celebrities have never even done that with their [partners],” Burke said.

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“Be single if you do Dancing with Stars. That’s all, I’m saying,” Burke said toward the end of the conversation.

Burke was a dancer on the competition reality show for 26 seasons before she officially retired in 2022.

She’s also not the first person to talk about the temptation for passion that the show inspires in people.

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While on Sex, Lies and Spray Tans in 2023, Brooke Burke said that during her tenure as a contestant on the show in 2008, she was tempted to have an affair with her pro partner, Derek Hough.

The two won the competition but didn’t spark a romance.