‘Dancing With The Stars’: Why Peta Murgatroyd May Never Return To The Show

Peta Murgatroyd has become one of the most recognizable professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars ever since she first appeared on the ABC competition show back in 2011 as a member of the dance troupe, but now she’s revealing that – after six years – she may never return to the series again.

Murgatroyd spoke to Access Hollywood about her time on the show backstage at the grand finale of DWTS Season 25 on November 21, where she confirmed that her contract is now up which could mean she won’t be back on the show again.

“My contract is actually up with Dancing with the Stars,” Peta explained, calling appearing on the finale earlier this week “emotional” because she knows there’s a chance she won’t be back again. “This was my last season on my contract.”

But while her contract coming to an end means Peta may never dance on the ABC show again, she did reveal that there’s still a chance producers will renew her contract before the competition show picks back up again in the spring of 2018.

“Obviously next year can still happen and I can resign and all of that,” she continued of potentially returning for Season 26 or 27 next year, “But it was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ this is the end of that chapter for me.”

Murgatroyd’s confession comes shortly after her husband and fellow Dancing with the Stars pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy hinted that he too could potentially be leaving the dancing show in an emotional message for his partner from this season, Vanessa Lachey, after they were eliminated from the competition in October.

Despite all the feud rumors that swirled around the two prior to their elimination, Peta’s husband praised Vanessa in an emotional post on Instagram where he appeared to suggest that she could have been his last celebrity partner ever in the competition.

Calling Season 25 dancing with Vanessa “one of the most eventful years” he’d had on the show, Maksim added, “If it were my last [season], I wouldn’t want this journey to end any other way.” Maks didn’t reveal why his most recent appearance may be his last, though it could be that his DWTS contract also came to an end this year.

Peta previously teased earlier this year that there was a chance she and Maksim may be calling time on the show after they welcomed their first child together, a son named Shai, back in January.

Prior to Season 25, Murgatroyd admitted that she was considering not appearing on the recently wrapped round because she didn’t want to spend that much time away from their son due to the grueling hours of rehearsal it takes to compete.

The professional dancer told Entertainment Tonight earlier this year that both she and Maks were still waiting to hear from producers as to whether or not they’d be asked back, shortly before it was announced that the couple would both be returning and partnered with another married couple, Nick and Vanessa Lachey.

“I don’t want to spend 10 hours away a day from my child, so those things factor into it for me,” she continued at the time of why she may not put as much time into DWTS as she has in the past.

“I’m a mom now and that comes first, you know?” Peta added.

Dancing with the Stars is set to return for an athlete only mini-season in spring 2018.

[Featured Image by Monica Schipper/Getty Images]