Danielle Fishel learned the show must go on while battling an injury on Dancing With the Stars season 34.
The Boy Meets World alum, 44, revealed in rehearsal footage shown during the Tuesday, September 23, episode that she suffered a “hamstring tear” earlier in the competition. She later went for a deep tissue massage, which “broke every blood vessel in the back of [her] leg.” Photos were shown of the bruising on her thigh as Fishel confessed, “I am pushing through the pain.”
Despite her injury, Fishel and pro Pasha Pashkov gave their all in a cha-cha to “The Rhythm of the Night” by Corona, earning 19 points out of 30.
Following the double elimination — Baron Davis and Britt Stewart were sent home, along with Corey Feldman and Jenna Johnson — Fishel exclusively opened up to Luxury Handbag Shopping about the “biggest challenge” of working through an injury.
“You know what, it’s been the care I’ve had to put into taking care of myself morning, afternoon and evening,” she explained. “Like, when you are nursing an injury, you have to alternate ice and heat, and I have to elevate, and I’ve had to compress, and I’ve had to have PT two to three times a week.”
The actress went to great lengths to ensure she was fit to perform. “I had to meet with a surgeon to see if I needed surgery on top of an already kind of grueling rehearsal schedule,” she told Us. “To find time to take care of myself has been, probably, the biggest challenge.”
As for Pashkov, 39, he kept a close eye on his partner during rehearsals. “Going into this week, we already knew that the leg is struggling a little bit. So to begin with, we already did the choreo[graphy] in such a way that it doesn’t really affect the right leg at all,” he noted. “But even throughout the week, we were just thinking of simplifying some things.”
Once Fishel got cleared by her doctor to dance, the pair knew they could go full speed ahead. “She’s like, ‘Now let’s keep [the dance] exactly the way it is,'” Pashkov told Us. “So I’m just asking her to listen to her body and we go based off of that.”
The twosome received positive feedback from the judges, including Carrie Ann Inaba, who praised Fishel’s “naturalness” on the dance floor. Inaba, 57, also reminded Fishel to breathe while she’s dancing. Bruno Tonioli, for his part, told Fishel to be aware of her shoulders — a note she’s taking to heart.
“My No. 1 goal for next week is to keep my shoulders down, because I do not want Bruno to give me that note three weeks in a row,” she told Us on Tuesday. “But it’s also just to have fun and to up my game a little bit more. I’m here for an upward trajectory, so I just want to keep it going.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
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