Cheryl Burke Says Bachelorette Host Chris Harrison Prevented Her From Being Cast - Because She Was A ‘Sloppy Drunk’?!

Cheryl Burke has a bone to pick with Chris Harrison.

The Dancing with the Stars alum stopped by The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever on Sunday, where she took her opportunity to call out its host Chris for a rumor that’s been bugging her for years: that he allegedly prevented her from being cast on The Bachelorette.

You see, once upon a time, Cheryl had her sights set on becoming the next lead of the ABC dating show. Unfortunately for her, she was never able to land the coveted spot. And it was for reasons she was told were at the discretion of Chris, who of course used to host the world-famous show. She confronted him about it, asking:

“I heard you blocked that. Did you not?”

Point blank!! But Chris was prepared. He responded:

“No. They put that on me. Yeah, like I have that much power, like I have the power to decide who the Bachelor [or] Bachelorette is.”

But she continued prodding! Cheryl added that she believes the studio “blamed” the casting decision on him due to her drinking?? She explained:

“So they told me that the reason that I didn’t get to do The Bachelorette is because Chris Harrison said you’re a sloppy drunk.”

Oof. As Perezcious readers know, alcoholism has been a sensitive part of Cheryl’s life story, but she’s thankfully gotten sober in recent years. Chris laughed off the speculation, though, responding:

“That’s so funny. They, in public, would never give me that kind of power … Yeah Mike [Fleiss] would ask me, or you know somebody would ask like, ‘Hey, like, what do you think about Emily Maynard? What do you think about Jason Mesnick?’ Or whatever, and I’d give my two cents.”

He continued:

“This is why I know it’s not true, there’s a lot of Bachelors and Bachelorettes — I won’t name anybody specific — that I didn’t think — well, actually, I’ll give you one: Sean Lowe, because he turned out to be a good friend and he’s great.”

Cheryl then pointed out the reality star is “still married,” to which Chris added:

“He’s our only success story. They really hang their hat on Sean Lowe.”

Hmmm. So it sounds like the studio did care about his opinion on casting choices at least a little bit! What do YOU think, Perezcious readers?? Did Chris have something to do with Cheryl not getting The Bachelorette, even though he denies it? Let us know in the comments!

[Images via Red Table Talk/Facebook & ABC/YouTube]