ABC "Dancing With the Stars" season 31 couples.
“Good Morning America” contributor and “Dancing With the Stars” contestant Sam Champion is battling injuries and nerve damage ahead of the third week of the competition.
Champion, 61, took to Instagram Live to share an update with his viewers and send well-wishes to people in Florida after hurricane Ian blew through the state. He called for help for people who were affected by the hurricane, specifically calling for his fans to donate to the American Red Cross.
“Oooof,” he wrote. “Bad night. Sending love to #florida as #Ian departs! Nerve pain put me in bed last night in my left leg… but hope to be back today.”
He shared during his Instagram Live that he was in a lot of pain ahead of the weekend going into the third week of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Champion is Undergoing Physical Therapy to Get Through the Pain
Champion, who is partnered with Cheryl Burke on “Dancing With the Stars,” is trying his hardest to work through his pain and stay in the competition, he told viewers.
“I had a really tough week physically after our Viennese Waltz…,” he said. “It’s hard, and my body really is not conditioned to try this yet, so I had a lot of nerve pain yesterday and the day before. I had a lot of pain in my left leg and that was kind of a brutal night to get through last night. That’s the first time that physically I felt beat up.”
He said there was a lot of stretching, but he was feeling better.
“We’re gonna try and do a bunch of stuff to see if I can stay in the game here,” he added. “We’ve got physical therapy, we’ve got heat on it, I’m going to try to do cryotherapy on it.”
Viewers told him to work on his muscles and try to rest up enough to heal his pain, and Champion shared that his husband, Rubem Robierb, was getting him everything that he needs in order to work through the injury.
“Last night I had a heating pad and we had every rub you can imagine,” he said, saying that Robierb has been massaging the injury and using the Theragun on it. “I’m lucky I have him.”
Burke commented on Champion’s post, writing, “Love you partner!”
Burke & Champion Are Set to Perform the Samba
For week three of the competition, which is themed “James Bond Night,” Burke and Champion are set to perform the Samba to “Los Muertos Vivos Estan” by Thomas Newman ft. Tambuco.
The two previously revealed that they were battling injuries going into the second week of the competition, Burke revealed during an episode of “Burke In the Game.”
“I may have kind of twisted my ankle a little bit,” Burke shared, adding that Champion was working hard and “he’s a little bit injured.”
“His right hip is bothering him and I have told him, this is not an ad, to get a Thera-gun because this is what has saved my life,” she said. “This is the reason why I’ve done 26 seasons is because of that damn Thera-gun. It is amazing. It relieves a lot of scar tissue.”