Sharna Burgess Plans Amazing Return To ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Semi-Finals
Sharna Burgess is back! The Dancing With the Stars pro dancer, who is partnered with IndyCar racer James Hinchcliffe this season on the celebrity ballroom competition, will return to the dance floor on Monday night after sitting out the past two weeks of the show due to a knee injury. Burgess told E! News it has been hard for her to sit on the sidelines, but that she is ready to reunite with Hinchliffe and take him to the DWTS finals.
“The last two weeks were really tough, but certainly worth the wait and getting healthy,” Sharna told E! “And now I can officially say I am back! I am feeling great and so excited to be back dancing with James this week! It has been amazing to watch him deliver such great performances these past two weeks, but I am so excited to be back in for the semi-finals and take James to the finale!”
James danced with troupe member Jenna Johnson for the Halloween and Showstoppers theme weeks, earning a perfect score for a Suicide Squad themed dance.
This week, Sharna returns to the ABC competition just in time for the semi-finals, where she and her partner will once again work with Johnson, this time for a trio jive to the song “Give Me Some Lovin'” by the Spencer Davis Group. In addition, the couple will take on an individual Argentine Tango to “Santa Maria” by Gotan Project.
“For our trio, we have Jenna,” Sharna told Entertainment Tonight. “We wanted to keep #TeamStopAndGo going. We’ve been together for the last two weeks and we felt like we would love to have her as part of our trio, so Jenna is going to be working with us.”
Sharna added that if she is able to take Hinchcliffe all the way to the mirrorball trophy, she will likely lose it.
“I would probably cry [if we win],” Burgess told ET. “Let’s be real, if James and I end up taking this home, I do think I’m going to end up being very emotional about it. It’s been a very intense season, especially not knowing if I could come back.”
Sharna Burgess previously told People she loves “every single thing about this season with James.”
“It’s my favorite season and I don’t want to miss out on any of it,” Burgess said.
And the feeling is definitely mutual. Hinchcliffe recorded a video message for Sharna, telling her she has been the best coach and choreographer he could have asked for.
Sharna Burgess is extremely lucky that she’s even able to talk about her return to DWTS. Sharna’s injury was serious enough that it could have kept her out of commission for up to six weeks, which means she would have missed the Dancing With the Stars finals. TMZ reported that the pro dancer’s doctors originally told her to stay off of her feet for three to six weeks. But last week, Burgess told E! that she sought treatment from top-notch docs so she could speed up her recovery process.
“The trick is to really find the best treatment available and that’s what I did,” Burgess told the celebrity news site. “I made the really difficult choice to leave James for three days, go to Ohio and sought out the best available treatment in the country and as a result, I’m healing quicker than ever.”
For the Dancing With the Stars semi-finals, Sharna Burgess and James Hinchcliffe will have some serious competition. Sharna and James will compete against Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy; NFL star Calvin Johnson Jr. and Lindsay Arnold; reality star Terra Jole and Sasha Farber; and country music singer Jana Kramer and Gleb Savchenko.
You can see Sharna Burgess make her return to Dancing With the Stars on Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC.
[Featured Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for People]
