‘Dancing With The Stars’ Pro Cheryl Burke Spills Ray Lewis Needs To Take ‘One Step At A Time’ As A Dancer

Dancing with the Stars pro dancer Cheryl Burke revealed that her celebrity partner Ray Lewis needs to take “one step at a time” if he is going to make it to the top of the show’s iconic leader board for Season 28.

The newly-married dancer (she tied the knot with actor Matthew Lawrence in May of this year) revealed how she believes hard work will put the former football star at the top of both fan and judge’s voting for the season in a blog post for Us Weekly.

Burke noted that Lewis likes being coached, is a hard worker, and has great work ethic, which is key when it comes to mastering the difficult and required moves for ballroom dancing. Although he is busy with multiple projects outside the practice rooms where pros and celebrities spend hours each day rehearsing their moves for the following week’s shows, Burke believes that with the proper time put in, Lewis will be just fine as a ballroom dancer.

“I keep telling him, ‘Just one step at a time.’ It’s always fun to see someone else’s real personality come out after they’ve been known for doing something else for so long,” revealed Burke to Us Weekly.

“He keeps saying, ‘I’m not gonna let you down.’ So I think he’s more nervous about that. He’s still trying to find his way. It’s like trying to teach a baby to walk first before crawling,” she shared of Lewis’ challenges.

The couple performed a salsa to Nelly’s song “Hot in Herre” and received love from the audience in attendance, but some criticism from the panel of judges that include Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli.

“There was a couple of mistakes but you have great potential!” Goodman said to the former football star. “Good job.”

Burke and Lewis scored a 15 out of 30 points for their first dance together reported The Inquisitr.

Burke began her career on the long-running reality dance competition series during Season 2. She was partnered with 98 Degrees singer Drew Lachey and won her first mirrorball trophy. In Season 3, she repeated her win alongside professional football star Emmitt Smith. The dance pro continued to compete through Season 19 until she took a break from the series to work on some personal projects.

The dance pro returned to Dancing with the Stars for Season 23, took a break for the show’s subsequent season, and returned once again full-time beginning in Season 25.

Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.