ABC/Eric McCandless
Injuries are common for professional dancers, as their work is grueling and takes a lot out of a person physically. This isn’t untrue of the cast of Dancing With the Stars either, as more than one dancer has revealed a behind-the-scenes injury this season.
After the Season 29 semi-finals, pro dancer Sasha Farber opened up to Entertainment Tonight about an injury that occurred during dress rehearsals prior to the show.
Apparently, Farber suffered a lower back injury and was not able to rehearse for the show that day while everyone else did. Justina Machado, his celebrity partner, rehearsed instead with Brandon Armstrong, a dancer who had previously been on the show until his partner, Jeannie Mai had to leave the show due to health concerns.
Farber Could Not Rehearse on Monday
During Monday’s rehearsal before the show, Farber was not able to rehearse because of his lower back injury. At the last minute, he decided to perform during the show, though he had missed the dress rehearsals for both dances.
“That was a close call,” he told ET. “I’ve never done that before and we didn’t do a dress run because I was lying here with my back. But these numbers are the numbers that would get her to the finale, and I wanted to make sure we did it together and the last nine weeks weren’t just for nothing. It was tough, I’m not going to lie, but we got through it.”
They not only got through it, but they also received their first perfect score of the season on their second dance of the night. Farber refused to take any shots of cortisone before the performance because he feared that it would affect next week’s finale performance, he told ET.
“He’s still in incredible pain,” Machado told the outlet. “I would have taken that shot in a heartbeat.”
Another Pro Was Ready to Perform in Farber’s Place
If Farber couldn’t perform, Justina Machado was still going to go on, but she was going to be partnered with someone different.
Brandon Armstrong came through to learn both dances for the night just in case he would have to perform in Farber’s place.
“At that point, I’m like, ‘What can I do, right?’ I really can’t do anything,?” Machado said. “So Brandon learned the dance and we went out there and we rehearsed it two or three times and then we waited to see if Sasha got better.”
Farber is still injured and isn’t 100 percent sure he’ll be able to perform during next week’s finale episode, though he’s hoping to pull through and get better.
“I hope so, I really, really do,” he told ET when asked if he’d be performing in the finale. “I don’t know how it happened. I guess it was in the morning when we had rehearsals and then after I danced it was all good. Literally, when we went back to the trailer, it kept swelling and swelling, my lower back.”
He shared that he’s never had any lower back concerns or problems before, so it was scary for him.
Dancing With the Stars airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Tune in next week for the season finale.
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