SAM Champion grimaced in pain and fought back tears as he and Cheryl Burke danced the difficult paso doble on Dancing with the Stars Monday night.
The Good Morning America weatherman has been dealing with leg and hip pains since the start of the reality show competition.
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On Monday night’s live show, Sam and Cheryl danced to the title song from The Greatest Showman.
The weatherman opened his mouth as if to say “Ow” after using his body to lift his partner from the floor.
The two then progressed through a choppy version of the dance, and did not impress the judges.
Sam was visibly shaken as the judges shared their critiques, and appeared to be on the verge of breaking down in tears.
While the panel was generally forgiving of the injured dancer, they did have a few critiques.
Derek Hough said of the dance: “It lacked a little bit of shape and a little bit of impact.
While Bruno Tonioli warned: “The dance got a bit monolithic. Those shapes have to extend and you nearly dropped her in the end. Every detail has to be there.”
Sam finished with scores of 7, 6, 6 and 6 from the panel.
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After his dance, Sam admitted his performance was “Super Hard.”
“When I tried to grit my jaw and keep it clenched, I wasn’t breathing, and then I’m out of breath,” he confessed. “It’s just hard.”
Last week, he found himself in the bottom two, but was saved from elimination.
SAM’S PAIN
On Monday, Sam revealed he had undergone cryotherapy to help cope with his pain.
The 61-year-old shared a video of himself stripping down to stand in freezing temperatures.
The TV personality winced as he exposed his body to the icy cold.
“Trying everything to get this hip in action!!!!” he captioned the video.
Sam has been sharing his health struggles and admitted he was not prepared for the toll that competing on the show would take on him.
“Physically, I wasn’t ready for any of this kind of activity,” he said. “My body had never been pushed in the way dancers pushed their bodies.”
DISNEY+ NIGHT
DWTS crossed off another first Monday, as the show expanded its normal Disney night into a first-ever Disney+ night.
The show kicked off with the talented pros dancing to Colombia, Mi Encanto from the Academy Award-winning film, Encanto.
Other performances broadened the theme, dancing to songs from not only classic Disney movies, but Marvel, Star Wars and even newly acquired Fox productions, all available on the streaming service.
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