ABC Cheryl Burke and Cody Rigsby on 'Dancing With the Stars' season 30
UPDATE: In an Instagram post, Cody Rigsby has revealed that he has tested positive for COVID, writing, “While I am fully vaccinated and took many precautions, following CDC guidelines, I recently tested positive for COVID19. To properly rest and recover as well as avoid exposing others, I will be taking a break in the coming days. I appreciate all your support and I’ll be back as soon as I am ready.”
It is unclear at this time how this will impact the show in week 3 coming up on Monday, October 4.
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In an interview, “Dancing With the Stars” professional dancer Cheryl Burke tells Heavy the plan with her partner Cody Rigsby for week 3, which is Britney Spears night. Read on to find out what will happen and how she thinks Cody stacks up compared to her previous partners.
Cheryl Says She’s Doing Really Well
In case you haven’t heard, Cheryl tested positive for COVID on Sunday, September 26, which meant she had to begin quarantining and could not dance with her partner, Peloton superstar Cody Rigsby, on Monday’s (September 27) live show. When we spoke with Cheryl, we had to inquire as to how she’s feeling and she said she’s feeling weirdly great.
“I feel actually weirdly great. I feel normal, which is a good thing, I guess, right?” said Burke. “Thank god for the vaccination, though. I’m fully vaccinated, so I don’t know if that would’ve been the same outcome if I wasn’t fully vaccinated.”
Because the producers had footage of Cody and Cheryl’s full salsa routine, the judges were able to judge that performance and the couple made it through to week 3. But now what? Cody is also quarantining out of caution because he was in close contact with Cheryl in rehearsals, so what will happen in week 3?
Cheryl Is Optimistic She’ll Dance With Cody on Monday
When asked if she still holds out hope of being able to perform with Cody on Monday, October 4, Cheryl gave a resounding “absolutely.” But it depends on what the show determines is her 10-day quarantine.
“We’re just trying to figure out when the 10 days, if it was Sunday, Saturday, we’re still figuring out when exactly I got COVID, right? Because we do get tested often on the show. It just depends on that result, so I think at the end of the day, we’re hoping that the 10 days basically ends on Monday,” Cheryl told us.
She also said that she will have “to test negative a few times, not just once” in order to be allowed back in the ballroom. But if that happens, she’s going to be ready. She’s been Zooming into Cody’s rehearsals and says that it will be scary, but they think they can do it.
“It’ll be scary because Cody and I will not have rehearsed as much together, but I’m confident that he’ll be ready no matter what and I’ll be able to just jump right in,” said Cheryl, adding, “It’s very scary! I’m not dancing with a professional ballroom dancer, right? I could do that maybe with Val, but not a celebrity. So it is very nerve-wracking, but it is good TV, I guess, too, right? [laughs].”
If She Can’t Dance, Who Will Cody Perform With?
We asked if Cody was rehearsing with Sofia Ghavami, the alternate female pro this season, and Cheryl said she couldn’t confirm or deny that.
“I don’t think I can answer the question, but he is going to be rehearsing with an alternate pro, for sure,” said Cheryl, to which we said that some fans were hoping it was actually Britt Stewart, who was eliminated in week 2 alongside her partner, Martin Kove.
“[Britt’s] amazing,” said Cheryl. “If anyone knows how to dance to Britney Spears, it’s her. Honestly, I’m just blessed we actually have girls available because last season, maybe that wouldn’t have been the case because we didn’t have extra dancers.”
Cheryl is also confident that Cody will make it work this week because “he’s beyond” good.
“[Cody’s] great and he’s a hard worker. … It’s so refreshing to have someone who can work hard, absolutely, but also be self-deprecating and have fun with the process,” said Cheryl. “He got where he is today because of hard work in general, so he is definitely very disciplined. I think that has to do with his formal training before, but again, I’ve said this before — it’s harder for dancers who have been trained before to do ballroom because you develop bad habits. It’s harder for you to untrain the brain than for, say, someone like an Emmitt Smith (her season three partner) to learn something new.”
Cheryl also said of working so well with Cody so far, “It helps that we love each other already. We’re like best friends.”
“Dancing With the Stars” season 30 airs Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on ABC.
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