Misty May-Treanor confirms Achilles injury, 'Dancing with the Stars' exit

Misty May-Treanor has confirmed that she will be unable to continue performing on Dancing with the Stars due to a ruptured Achilles tendon she sustained Friday during the show's practice.


"I am out," May-Treanor told Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron after the nine remaining dance couples had performed on Monday's live broadcast of the dance competition series on ABC. "But I'm not out of cheering on the competitors and keeping in touch with everybody. But I'm now  going to be on the sideline, but the show must go on."

May-Treanor -- who appeared on the show with crutches and her left leg in a brace -- told Bergeron that the injury had occurred on Friday during practice while practicing the jive with her dance partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

After landing backwards from a jump on her left leg, she said that she "heard a pop" -- which was loud enough to be picked up by microphones that were recording the pair's practice -- and after initially thinking that she had gone out of control and landed on the stairs near the judges table, "knew something bad had happened." 

"It felt like I got hit in the back with a baseball bat," she said.


"I was like 'Ok I'm an athlete. Tape it up and get right back out there.' I tried to put more weight on it and it just felt like nothing was there. I didn't have an ankle, I didn't have a foot," she added.

May-Treanor said that while the injury was not ideal, it occurred at a time when she was planning to take time off from her volleyball career and "didn't throw a wrench into any of the plans that [my husband and I] had."

"I came back from another serious injury," she said optimistically. "I know with this one I'm going to come back even stronger."

May-Treanor had previously undergone surgery to replace the posterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

Chmerkovskiy joined May-Treanor on stage and called her "a perfect person" without "a bad bone in her body."


"I'm really sad, but I hope that we'll stay friends," he added.

"We're gonna remain friends, and when I get healthy we're gonna come back and do the jive," May-Treaner responded. That's what I want."

Bergeron said that Chmerkovskiy and May-Treanor would be welcome back whenever she was healthy to make good on their promise. Dancing with the Stars co-host Samantha Harris added that the unexpected departure's effect on the show's eliminations would be revealed on Tuesday's results show.

May-Treanor's injury is not the first injury to strike a competitor on this season of Dancing with the Stars. Comedian Jeffrey Ross suffered a scratched cornea after being poked in the eye by his dance partner Edyta Sliwinska during practice before the show's premiere. Professional dancer Karina Smirnoff -- who is partnered with chef Rocco DiSpirito -- sprained her ankle in the first week as well.

On Sunday, dance professional Derek Hough --who is partnered with model and former Rock Star host Brooke Burke -- hit his head on the dance floor during his dance practice and was sent to the hospital as a precaution.


All three continued in the competition despite their injuries.






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