Bachelorette of the ballroom! Dancing With the Stars pro Sharna Burgess wouldn’t mind joining another one of ABC’s popular reality franchises if given the opportunity.
The dancer, 35, was offered a spot as the lead of Australia’s version of The Bachelorette before the coronavirus pandemic put the entertainment world on hold. At the time, the Australia native was “on the fence” about the offer.
“I was initially like, ‘Sure.’ I mean, that could be fun. And then as I got into it, there was something that didn’t feel right … which is odd because I love the show worldwide,” Burgess told Us Weekly exclusively in August. “For some reason, my instincts were saying, ‘Don’t do it,’ which was very bizarre. I’ve had to trust my instincts my whole life, they’ve led me to where I am now.”
Despite her hesitations about pursuing suitors in Australia, the season 27 DWTS champion would be open to the idea of being the Bachelorette in the U.S.
“I live here, you know?” she told Us. “So it also makes more sense for me to do it here. I don’t have plans to permanently move back to Australia … I would love to be half and half, you know, go to Australia and work, but my life is based here. I want to raise my kids here. … It feels like it makes more sense. There’s less questions at the end of it for me, like, ‘OK, well where do we live? And what do we do?’ It makes more sense for me.”
Though Burgess “ended up saying no” to the reality dating program Down Under, she’s excited to tune in and see what the upcoming season has in store.
“I believe that they now have two sisters as Bachelorettes in Australia, which is really, really cool and exciting,” she said. “I think that’s super fun for the network and I’ll be cheering them on.”
After turning down the chance to find The One on TV, Burgess has had to get creative when it comes to dating during quarantine.
“There’s ways around it,” the choreographer said of social distancing guidelines, which have made dating in-person more of a challenge. “It’s just really intense. It doesn’t make the dating scene any easier, let’s put it that way.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
