Working through the pain! Bachelorette alum Kaitlyn Bristowe’s ankle injury caused some drama during week 2 of Dancing With the Stars. The reality starlet wasn’t able to do dress rehearsal and was almost barred from performing with partner Artem Chigvintsev on Tuesday, September 22.
The Bachelor Nation babe, 35, and Russian dancer, 38, were luckily still able to show off their hard work with a gorgeous foxtrot to “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack, and despite her injury, the duo scored at the top of the leaderboard with a 22 out of 30. Kaitlyn said on her Instagram Story their last-minute performance was possible by wrapping her ankle, switching to “comfier” shoes and receiving a cortisone shot.
However, there was a lot of drama behind the scenes. The season 11 star admitted she was “bawling” over the possibility of not being able to perform. “I’ll cut my leg off before I have to quit the show,” she said backstage after their performance, while quipping her statement was “a little dramatic.”
The pain worsened once she was home, and Kaitlyn said she was getting an MRI on September 23 to figure out the severity of her injury. “If I have a cortisone shot and it still feels this bad, I’m not going to lie I’m extremely worried,” she later said on her Instagram Story. “It was an emotional rollercoaster today because I was literally hyperventilating in tears thinking I couldn’t dance … I literally danced my little heart out and now I’m in pain again.”
During the first elimination, Kaitlyn and Artem were safe while former NBA player Charles Oakley and partner Emma Slater were sent packing. With the live voting format of the show, Kaitlyn was appreciative to all the fans who chose to keep them around.
“Honestly, I just wanted to come on and say thank you to everybody who voted,” Kaitlyn gushed. “[I’m] so grateful, and it’s so cool to see even though we were the last dancers and didn’t know if I could dance that we still got votes. It meant the world to us … and I think Artem and I just love to dance so much.”
Hopefully, Kaitlyn will be able to continue!