Could this season of "Dancing With the Stars" be Cheryl Burke's last?
The pro dancer, who first joined the cast of the dancing competition in 2006, just revealed that she's considering retiring from the show.
The 36-year-old has 25 years of dancing experience, and that has understandably taken quite the toll on her body.
"My hips don't lie, and I'm starting to get tendonitis. For a woman, as far as ballroom dancing competitively goes, normally in their 30s (they retire)," Burke said during Monday's episode of the "Chicks in the Office" podcast. "I'm 36, so it's like, 'Okay, time to hang up those shoes.' "
Burke, who is currently competing on season 29 with her partner, AJ McLean, has participated in 23 seasons of the show. And she wants to make her exit while she's still at the top of her game.
"I also don't want to be that oldie that's like, 'Oh, here comes Cheryl doing the same choreography, just going slow, but in her head, she thinks she's going that fast.' I also don't want to, I guess, be a dancer and have my partner having to be, like, 'Can't lift.' ... There's a time and a place for it all," she said.
Whether or not she'll stop dancing at the end of this season remains to be seen, but Burke isn't ruling out another role on the show: as a judge. "It would be really great for me just to use my mouth and not my body," she said. "I mean, four judges? It's fine! Just give us each five seconds."
Over the years, Burke has been partnered with athletes, politicians, musicians and more, and she said some of her past partners were easier to get along with than others.
"Sometimes it isn't the best match and it's like an arranged marriage: you just have to make it work," she said. "You make the best out of it."
This season, Burke lucked out and she says that McLean is one of her "top three" partners of all time. "We have a lot in common; we're both sober," she said, adding that the two have a podcast together where they talk about sober life.