Exclusive: Cheryl Burke Shares What Has Provided Therapeutic Relief Since Departing ‘Dancing with the Stars’ – Hot

With her time on Dancing with the Stars behind her, Cheryl Burke has a new career endeavor taking up her time.

Burke announced her departure from the ABC competition series in November 2022 after 26 seasons. Now, she’s using the series as the inspiration for her latest project, which sees her taking a behind-the-scenes look at Dancing with the Stars for her new iHeartRadio podcast, Sex, Lies, & Spray Tans.

Opening up about her experience working on the project, Burke tells PEOPLE that she has “absolutely” found it to be therapeutic.

“There was a little FOMO happening when they announced the cast [for season 32], but I left on my own terms,” Burke, 39, says. “This has been a part of my life forever and for me not to really talk it through, as far as all the memories that have been created from when I was 21 till I’m now 39, it’s insanity.”

The podcast, which launched Monday, will see Burke dishing on the arguments, flings and more drama that occurred throughout her several seasons on the show. And while it’s been “fun” to look back on the past, she assures she is not setting out to “upset” those connected to the Dancing with the Stars world.

“This is my third podcast. I’ve been fortunate enough to do it with iHeartMedia and it’s been an interesting conversation when we first talked about doing a podcast like this, because there’s a fine line of, I obviously don’t want to upset anybody on the show, but this has nothing to do with any type of negativity,” she explains. “If anything, this is honoring the show for half my life I’ve been on.”

Burke adds: “I do believe we owe it to the fans, first of all, just to celebrate the fact that the show has been on for so long. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the fans.”

Teasing what’s to come, Burke reveals she “just interviewed [fellow pro] Maks Chmerkovskiy.”

“It’s really fun to be able to engage and talk about how Dancing with the Stars has changed your life for the better or why you feel like it hasn’t, and the scariest thing that you took away from this experience,” she explains. “Were you the one that was finding the nearest exit? Because to dance live on TV was terrifying. Or, are you like someone like Brooke Burke, who I haven’t interviewed yet, but she’s a friend of mine, that said that thank God for Dancing with the Stars. It transformed her whole life and her whole mentality, you know? It’s beautiful.”

Beyond the podcast, when it comes to her Dancing with the Stars future, Burke says: “I think we made that pretty clear where it was my time, right?”

“I’ve done so many seasons of being a pro dancer, which I’m grateful for. But as a woman, also just as an entrepreneur, it’s important for me to challenge myself, whether that’s with the show or not,” she adds. “That’s up to the show. They’re very well aware that I would love to be a part of the show somehow, but that’s not up to me.”

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New episodes of Burke’s iHeartRadio podcast Sex, Lies, & Spray Tans arrive weekly everywhere podcasts are streamed.