It’s tough to be on Dancing With The Stars. Reports from professional dancers and contestants over the years have shown the competition to be grueling and strenuous, and this season at least two of the guys competing are dealing with fairly bad injuries, one of which seemed as if it would be his downfall. Unfortunately, tonight actually ended with a surprise elimination, leaving the two injured gentlemen to fight it out.
If you’ve been keeping tabs with the contestants on Dancing with the Stars, you probably already know that Alfonso Ribeiro has been fighting a groin injury on the show. He's not the only contestant who has been pushing his body to the limit. The older Tommy Chong has also been dealing with problems, of the knee variety. Last week, the comedian almost ended up leaving the series after a cyst in his knee burst (gross). However he, like Ribeiro, managed to tough out the injury and compete. Despite being brave enough to stick with what he started, the dancing wasn’t exactly awesome. Due to his problems, the dancing landed Tommy Chong at the bottom of the ladder, and it seemed clear that the funny man would be able to head home and rest this week. Except, that’s not what happened.
At the beginning of the show, it was revealed that Tommy and his partner, Peta Murgatroyd were actually the first couple that was safe this week, meaning the fans didn’t vote to send home the team with the lowest scores. This left Lea Thompson and Sadie Robertson to determine their fates, and despite being a respectable dancer, the Back to the Future star was the one who was sent home.
As for Chong, he’ll have to continue fighting through his knee troubles. Maybe he can take a note from Ribeiro, who recently said he has gone through an intensive routine of dancing hard each day and then sitting through some intense massage therapy and chryotherapy to keep him competition ready. I’m not so sure Chong will need to worry about competing for all that much longer, though. But as tonight proves, anything can happen.
After Lea Thompson was sent home tonight, Dancing with the Stars is one step closed to the elusive mirrorball trophy. Season 19 has now whittled down to 5 contestants. Two are injured, and two earned perfect scores during a dance tonight. We’ll have to wait and see who ends up stepping up their game, and whether or not the injured contestants will be able to fight through their respective issues.
New episodes of Dancing with the Stars air on ABC on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET.
