Mark Ballas has provided Dancing with the Stars viewers an update on his back injury.
ADVERTISEMENT
On last night's episode of Dancing with the Stars, the pro dancer was shown hurting his back while rehearsing with UFC fighter Paige VanZant and therefore sitting out of their salsa routine. Alan Bersten, a DWTS Troupe member and tenth-season So You Think You Can Dance contestant, filled in for Ballas.
"The doctor seems to be optimistic, so I'm feeling good about it," Ballas told E! News about the status of his condition after last night's show.
But with an injury like this, Ballas said he can't really predict the recovery time.
"I just don't know how quickly. No time-frame yet... but I don't want to let [Paige] down. I want to be there with her, she's fantastic," explained Ballas, who attempted to perform through this same physical limitation in a previous season.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dancing with the Stars showed footage Monday night of Ballas pulling VanZant through his legs during a rehearsal and then falling to the ground in pain. He guessed a "slipped disc" was the cause.
Ballas underwent an MRI as well as CT and bone scans "just to be thorough."
However, VanZant and Bersten ended up tying for first place on the judges' leaderboard with 24 out of 30 points.
"I'm really proud of her," Ballas told E! News. "I thought she did excellent tonight. It's a hard situation to be put into."
Ballas also tweeted a "thank you" to Bersten for "stepping up to the plate" and delivering. He wrote, "I'll be back #DWTS," at the end of his post.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It was scary. It was very scary," VanZant admitted of Ballas' injury, revealing she didn't even know whom she'd be dancing with hours before her performance. "Alan stepped up and learned the routine very quickly. We had to change a lot of things, which was scary for me... Everything was up in the air."
VanZant added, "I'm really happy I got to go out there and perform... Hopefully he just gets better really soon!"
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski