“He judged himself right away. He was like, ‘I suck at this,’ and I was like, ‘No, no, no this is just the first few steps,'” the dancer said of Charlie Sheen, whom she believed would have been a “great candidate” for the show.
Dancing with the Stars alum Cheryl Burke says she once had a celebrity partner on the ABC competition series who decided to leave the show after only one rehearsal.
On Monday’s episode of her Sex, Lies and Spray Tans podcast, the professional dancer revealed that she was paired with actor Charlie Sheen for Season 28 back in 2019, but he dropped out after just a single day.
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“Fun fact: I danced with Charlie for one day. Maybe you don’t know but he was going to do the show,” Burke told her guest Denise Richards, who is Sheen’s ex-wife, and was married to the Two and a Half Men alum from 2002 to 2006.
The 39-year-old added that she questioned production after a big celebrity’s team asked for Burke specifically.
“I was like, ‘Are you sure?”” she said. ‘Because if you’re trying to convince somebody to do the show, I might not be the right person.’ Because I hate lying, and I just don’t want to lie about how the process is.”
“It’s beautiful, but it’s freaking a lot of work,” she added. “I’m not even going to deny that. And there’s a lot of press and a lot of interviews, and all of this stuff.”
Burke — who appeared on 26 seasons of the dance competition series — recalled she “taught him a few steps.” However, she said he seemed hesitant about starring on DWTS.
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“I’m sober for almost six years, and I have a lot of compassion for him,” she said, seemingly alluding to Sheen’s past. “He seemed so cool, and he was a lot of fun.”
“But then he started asking me questions,” Burke continued. “He asked me, ‘How many interviews do we have to do? Do we have to go and do press? And I told him, ‘Yeah, we do. We’re going to do GMA. Like we’re going to do Good Morning America.”
The dancer said she doesn’t know why Sheen decided against appearing on the show.
“I don’t know what it was,” Burke explained. “He judged himself right away. He was like, ‘I suck at this,’ and I was like, ‘No, no, no this is just the first few steps.’ I taught him a waltz or something.”
“We talked more than we danced to be honest,” she added. “He would be a great candidate.”
Richards — who competed on Season 8 of DWTS — shared why she believes her ex-husband dropped out.
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“He doesn’t like to work out,” she told Burke. “There’s a lot of physical activity with dancing. … He also wouldn’t want to do interviews. It would be a great challenge for him and something that he should do, but he doesn’t like to sweat.”
Burke admitted that she “knew” Sheen wasn’t going to compete on the show after her first rehearsal with him.
“He was really sweet and kind and humble, but I knew as soon as we were finished that it was probably going to be a hard no,” she recalled, adding, “This show brings out vulnerability in you — and if you’re not willing to be courageous or transparent in that way, this show could actually swallow you up.”
Back in 2019, Sheen opened up to Us Weekly about why he decided to leave DWTS even before it premiered.
“I was very flattered by ABC and their offer, but at the end of the day, I have two left feet and I just can’t dance,” he said.
Meanwhile, the actor’s publicist confirmed that there was a reason behind Sheen initially being chosen to appear on the ABC competition series. He revealed the network “made a very generous offer” for Sheen to star in a new pilot, but “it was contingent upon his participation on Dancing With the Stars.”
