Gilles Marini is regarded by many as the frontrunner along with his professional partner Cheryl Burke on the current season of Dancing with the Stars. However, as it turns out, he's been hitting the dance floor with a shoulder injury that has gotten so bad that it will now require surgery once his stint on the ABC dance reality show is done.
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"I used only my right arm [for the jive]. Go check it out," Marini told People magazine of his jive from Monday's performance show. "[Burke] makes sure I only do what I can do. I didn't use my left arm. I need surgery because the bones [in the left shoulder] have separated. So after the show I will get surgery and that will take a day and about three weeks to recover and I'll move on with life."
Marini also noted that his shoulder injury -- which first occurred when the couple was practicing for the cha cha they performed during Dancing with the Stars' Week 1 performance show -- probably could have been avoided if he had listened to Burke's advice when she was teaching him how to perform the dance properly.
"I tell you, I did not listen to her. I did not pose my arm, I just yanked at it when we did the cha cha because I did not know better and I completely separated it," Marini told People. "Now I know better and it will be fine."
Arm injuries to her celebrity contestants are nothing new to Burke. Midway through Dancing's sixth season Christian de la Fuerte, her celebrity partner at the time, ruptured a tendon in his life bicep during the couple's samba performance. However, despite the injury, the couple were still able to make it to the finale and finish the competition in third place.
About The Author: John Bracchitta