Every ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Pro Who Has Left and Why

Making changes! Dancing With the Stars has found plenty of success since its debut in 2005. Since then, the ABC dancing competition has had many newcomers and has said goodbye to many OGs.

Julianne Hough, who competed from season 4 to season 8, announced that she was leaving in 2009 to pursue other interests. Hough went on to kickstart her career as an actress in films such as Safe Haven, Burlesque, Rock of Ages and Footloose.

The Utah native later returned as a judge from season 19 until 24 and has previously said that she has never ruled out a potential return.

“Look, never say never because you never know what one day will be from the next,” Hough told Us Weekly in August 2019. “But I owe my career to that show! I was 18 and they brought me back in two different ways. I was a dancer, I was a judge and I’m so happy for everything that’s going on there.”

Another standout was Keo Motsepe who was the first Black professional dancer on the show when he joined for season 19. Motsepe stayed on the show until 2021, when he announced that he wouldn’t be returning for the upcoming season.

“While it’s disappointing to not be back for season 30, I’ve been honored to be on the last nine seasons of the show and look forward to returning in the future,” he told Us in September 2021. “There’s a great group this season and I wish all the dancers and the show the best of luck!”

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At the time, a source told Us that it will be “heartbreaking” to the other professionals not to have Motsepe return for another chance to win the mirrorball trophy.

“Keo loves being a pro and being part of DWTS, but also feels this opens the door for him to expand into other things he’s been working toward,” the insider noted.

Lindsay Arnold, who was returning to DWTS for season 30, also reflected on the Burn the Floor alum’s absence.

“It’s always so hard because we truly are a family and we love each other so much,” Arnold told Entertainment Tonight after the announcement. “I actually just texted Keo this morning just saying that I love him, I hope I get to see him soon and I hope he’s doing well.”

Scroll down to see all the DWTS pros that didn’t return over the years:

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Appeared: Season 1, Season 4, Season 5, Season 7 and Season 9

Reason for Exit: Mazo went on to earn an MBA from Stanford University and has since focused on being a CEO of the Genesis Dance Sport studio.

Appeared: Season 1

Reason for Exit: Jørgensen moved on to become a ballroom trainer and has started traveling for coaching.

Appeared: Season 1-3 and Season 10

Reason for Exit: DelGrosso announced that she would not return for season 5 because she was expecting her first child with husband Mike Costa.

Appeared: Season 1, Season 2, Season 4-6 and Season 8-9

Appeared: Season 1-10 and Season 22

Reason for Exit: Śliwińska left the ABC series after “a major disagreement” with the producers.

“The producers’ vision of what they wanted my career to be did not meet my expectations,” she told TMZ in 2010. “They wanted my career to be the show. I can’t be a dancer my whole life.”

Appeared: Season 1-3, Season 6, Season 9-12, Season 15 and Season 21

Reason for Exit: The professional dancer went on to run a dance fitness program and even reviewed DWTS as a fan.

Appeared: Season 2-19, Season 23, Season 25, Season 27-30

Reason for Exit: Burke left to pursue other projects and later returned.

“It was like I needed to learn again. I needed to surround myself in a different environment,” she told Nicki Swift in March 2021. “I started feeling like I was on autopilot, and that’s never fun, which is why I also went to Argentina to learn how to Argentine tango when the show added that dance.” 

Appeared: Season 2, Season 5-6, Season 9-15 and Season 21

Reason for Exit: Trebunskaya left after season 15 to focus on her personal life following her divorce from Jonathan Roberts.

Appeared: Season 2-22

Reason for Exit: Dovolani explained that there wasn’t one specific reason for his decision to move on, except that he felt it was time.

“When I decided to quit nothing major happened, it was just a build up of things where I just said, ‘I didn’t sign up for this,’” he shared during an interview with Hollywood Life in January 2020.

Appeared: Season 2-3

Reason for Exit: Kosovich left to become an event organizer and later started traveling as a consultant for several dance organizations.

Appeared: Season 2

Reason for Exit: Hale transitioned into teaching dance in Utah at local studies.

Appeared: Season 3-9, Season 11-19 and Season 21-22

Reason for Exit: Smirnoff wrote on Instagram in 2015 that she was leaving to “focus my energies on some other exciting endeavors including adding author to my resume.”

Appeared: Season 3-9, Season 11-16, Season 20 and Season 24

Reason for Exit: In January 2018, Johnson announced that she was expecting twins which led to her decision not to return to the ABC show.

“I’d love to go back and be a part of the show somehow, whether it is judging or doing something,” she told E! News at the time.

Appeared: Season 3

Reason for Exit: DeSoto moved on to work in real estate development and co-owning a Fred Astaire Dance Studio.

Appeared: Season 3-4

Reason for Exit: Grinenko has shifted her focus to hosting Dance Talk TV and teaching online dance classes.

Appeared: Season 4-8

Reason for Exit: Hough admitted that she wanted to work on other projects.

“It’s because I really, really want to focus on the music and, you know, kind of be taken seriously a little bit,” Hough explained to Ryan Seacrest in 2009.

Appeared: Season 4

Reason for Exit: Fortuna ventured into the theatre and acting scene.

Appeared: Season 5-11, Season 13-21 and Season 23

Reason for Exit: In November 2016, Derek revealed that he wasn’t sure whether he was coming back because he had “a few projects” coming up.

“I didn’t think I was going to come back to the show a couple times now and ended up coming back. That show will always be my family,” he told TV Guide, before joining World of Dance as a judge.

He returned to DWTS for season 29 as a judge.

Appeared: Season 5-22, Season 25

Reason for Exit: Ballas confirmed that he didn’t have plans to return in April 2018.

“I’ll miss competing and creating outside the box,” he wrote via Instagram. “However I am looking forward to this new chapter and venture that is beginning shortly. I will soon have news for you all on where you can find me, I hope to see many of you there.”

Appeared: Season 6

Reason for Exit: Sanchez has focused on his Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Alabama.

Appeared: Season 7-9, Season 11-13

Reason for Exit: Schwimmer announced her exit in 2011 to focus on other projects.

“There are a lot of things going on in my life that I kind of need [to] step back and focus,” she detailed to SheKnows at the time. “I’m trying to partition my time.”

Appeared: Season 7 and Season 11

Reason for Exit: Since leaving the show, Ballas has continued to focus on teaching dance.  

Appeared: Season 7

Reason for Exit: Brayer moved on from DWTS and went on to open two New York dance schools.

Appeared: Season 8-12 and Season 14-15

Reason for Exit: Hightower left after season 15 and later reflected on how her anxiety made it “hard to stay motivated and push through the pressure of dancing on national TV.”

“After my five-year run on DWTS, I finally moved home and started seeing a therapist and getting the help I needed to manage those feelings,” she revealed to Dance Spirit in January 2019.

Appeared: Season 8-9 and Season 12

Reason for Exit: Chaplin went on to compete on the Ukrainian version of Dancing With the Stars after his departure.

Appeared: Season 9

Reason for Exit: Demidova returned to dance competitions and later took up modeling and acting.

Appeared: Season 10

Reason for Exit: Whitewood moved on to other dancing opportunities, including an appearance on the Israeli version of Dancing With the Stars.

Appeared: Season 13-17

Reason for Exit: After his departure, MacManus admitted that DWTS was a little too structured for him.

“I’m grateful for the chances I have had on TV, but I didn’t enjoy doing those show and that’s why I stepped away from them,” he told the Independent in September 2017.

Appeared: Season 17

Appeared: Season 18

Reason for Exit: Byalikov left to pursue a career on Broadway.

Appeared: Season 19-21 and Season 23

Reason for Exit: Holker revealed that she wouldn’t be returning after the season 24 lineup was announced.

“Hey guys, I wanted to be the first to reach out to all my family, friends and fans to say that I will not be returning to DWTS this season,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “I truly adore my DWTS family, It’s all love and I’m so excited for all of the competitors who are participating this season.”

Appeared: Season 2-5, Season 7-15, Season 18 and Season 23-25

Reason for Exit: Following his 2018 departure, Chmerkovskiy shared that he was looking forward to supporting the show from the sidelines. 

“I’m excited about all the opportunities. I keep saying the platform has been amazing. It’s great to see new faces especially representing ballroom dance,” he told Us in March 2020. “We’ve had an incredible wave of new people that are now representing the same way, and probably better.”

Appeared: Season 19-22, Season 24-27 and Season 29

Reason for Exit: In September 2021, Motsepe exclusively told Us that he was excited for “some exciting opportunities in the works.”

Appeared: Season 13-20, Season 22, Season 24-25 and Season 28-29

Reason for Exit: “As many of you know, after 10 years with @dancingabc, I will not be returning for Season 30,” she wrote on Instagram in September 2021. “While I will miss being a part of the show, I’m excited to continue to focus on other projects and my business endeavors, along with spending quality time with family.”

The Move With Linds founder decided against returning for season 31, instead choosing to focus on her family.

“As many of you know my family and I live in UT and in order to do DWTS I have to move myself and my daughter Sage out to LA and leave behind my husband Sam [Cusick] who works full time here in Utah,” she wrote via Instagram in August 2022. “Logistically there is SO much involved with making this happen and there is a lot of sacrifice that has to be made that unfortunately just did not feel right for us this time around.”

The Australia native announced in August 2022 that she would not be returning for DWTS season 31 in order to prioritize her newborn son, whom she is still breast-feeding. (Burgess and Brian Austin Green welcomed Zane that June.)

“[I] did not quit anything,” Burgess said via her Instagram Story at the time. “It’s just one season. … I’m just spending time with [Zane].”

Appeared: Seasons 2-19, Season 23, Season 25, Seasons 27-31

Reason for Exit: Burke revealed in a November 2022 that she is hanging up her ballroom heels after 26 seasons. 

“I also know that it is time for me to begin the next phase of my career, although dance will always be a part of me,” she wrote via Instagram. “I am excited about the idea of evolving, about being challenged in new ways, having the ability to expand my commitment to mental health advocacy, focusing on my new found love for podcasting, & I’m ready to face the uncertainty (though it’s scary as s—t of what the future holds — I do have a few things up my sleeves though, so don’t worry 😉.”