Dancing with the Stars pro Cheryl Burke has revealed Ryan Lochte was actually physically injured during the Monday night scuffle between protesters and security.
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After Burke and the Olympic gold medalist performed their foxtrot routine and were being critiqued by judge Carrie Ann Inaba during Dancing with the Stars' Season 23 premiere, two protesters -- LA residents Sam Sotoodeh and Barzeen Soroudi -- ambushed Lochte onstage.
The protesters told authorities Lochte had endangered Americans by fabricating a story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Summer Olympics when, in actuality, he helped to vandalize a gas station and a security guard demanded money for the damages, according to ABC News.
"We were standing there listening to Carrie Ann give us her thoughts when I suddenly saw someone walking onto the ballroom floor in a T-shirt with a red line through Ryan's last name. My first thought was, 'Is this a joke? Is this scripted and no one told us? Too soon, guys,'" Burke wrote.
"But as soon as he started yelling, 'Boo! Lochte! Liar! Lochte!' I realized it was a serious situation. My mind started racing. My initial concern was if the guy was armed or not. DWTS is a family show and I knew there were kids in the audience and I just didn't want anyone to get hurt."
Sotoodeh and Soroudi were tackled by Dancing with the Stars security and escorted out of the studio. The protesters were ultimately arrested and booked for misdemeanor trespassing. Although the chaos was quickly taken care of, the incident left Burke and Lochte visibly shaken, hurt and distressed.
"I looked up to Ryan and I could tell he was on the verge of tears. I could feel his heart sinking into his stomach -- and to be honest, mine was too. They cut to commercial break and I just had him lock eyes with me and I was telling him, 'You're amazing. Don't forget why you're here,'" Burke wrote in the blog.
"I started getting teary eyed and apparently was shaking, but I didn't even realize that until someone else pointed it out to me. I just wanted to be strong for Ryan. The first thing he did was turn to me and say, 'I'm so sorry.' I just told him, 'Never tell me you're sorry again. These tears are just because I don't want you to be hurt or for you to lose your spirit.'"
Burke, who said she feels like a motherly figure to Lochte in this competition, then hugged the Olympic swimmer's biological mother in the audience, who was "bawling."
"I know it will probably take us a few weeks to put this incident behind us, but I know Ryan wants to move forward and he's not going to let this bring him down," the pro dancer insisted.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
