Sharna Burgess has already missed two routines with her Dancing with the Stars celebrity partner James Hinchcliffe due to injury, and she hopes there won't be another one.
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Burgess injured her knee in Week 7 of the competition and was told by doctors she needed to rest her leg the following week after extensive therapy and medical treatments. Before Monday night's show, Burgess was given the "okay" to come back, but a warning of risks -- such as an even worse injury -- stopped the beauty from performing.
In the upcoming November 14 show, Burgess hopes to participate in the "Trio Round," which typically features two pro dancers and one celebrity contestant performing together.
"For our trio, we have Jenna," Burgess confirmed to ET. "We wanted to keep #TeamStopAndGo going. We've been together for the last two weeks and we felt like we would love to have her as part of our trio, so Jenna is going to be working with us. And also, we have Argentine Tango this week, which is amazing!"
Although Burgess expects to dance, she's still being realistic about the situation.
"There's a backup plan if I can't do it," Burgess explained. "It's going to be a last-minute decision again, but there is obviously another person who is going to learn and step in, if I can't actually do it."
Hinchcliffe is a natural performer who seems to excel regardless of whom he's partnered with. For "Halloween Night," the pro race car driver and Johnson earned a perfect score for their Suicide Squad routine.
"My biggest fear was that I would do that Suicide Squad number and make my knee worse and not be able to finish with James," Burgess said. "That's something James and I have talked about. We want to finish this together."
Burgess, however, has enjoyed watching Hinchcliffe dance with Johnson from the sky box during the live shows. His improvement makes her feel like a very "proud coach, teacher and friend."
"At the end of the day, I needed to do what was best for him," Burgess noted of stepping out of the past two dance numbers.
"Even though he and I are a team, this is about James. This is me wanting to get James to the finals, so he can win. If the best decision was for me to step out for a couple of weeks so he could have someone that could be a strong partner for him, then that's what needed to happen."
Burgess has "no real plan" going forward on Season 23 of Dancing with the Stars other than to choreograph "really great routines" for Hinchcliffe and push him to be his best and most-comfortable self on the dance floor.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
