Kaitlyn Bristowe Pushes Past Ankle Injury on Dancing With the Stars

Kaitlyn Bristowe suffered from ankle pain ahead of Tuesday's episode of Dancing With the Stars, putting her performance in jeopardy.

By Lauren Piester Sep 23, 2020 2:16 AMTags
Watch: "DWTS" Host Tyra Banks Reflects on Her Debut

Sometimes Dancing With the Stars is a dangerous place to be. 

Towards the start of Tuesday's episode of the ABC reality hit—the first elimination of the season—host Tyra Banks announced that former Bachelorette star Kaitlyn Bristowe had suffered an ankle injury that was currently being looked at, and her DWTS future was uncertain. 

"Will she pull through?" Tyra said. "We'll find out later. We'll find out live." 

The mystery of whether Kaitlyn would dance continued to be teased throughout the show until about halfway through, when her pro partner Artem Chigvintsev took the stage to announce that Kaitlyn would indeed dance tonight. Phew! 

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Keeping Score Of Dancing With the Stars Season 29

Kaitlyn didn't dance until the end of the show, but she told Tyra she was ready to go.

"I tell myself all the time that I'm resilient," she said. "This was a dream. I'm happy to do it." 

ABC

After she and Artem danced their Foxtrot to Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance," Carrie Ann Inaba told her that if that was how she danced with an injury, she would have loved to find out what it was like without the injury. 

In fact, Kaitlyn and Artem ended up with the best score for a single dance so far with 22. They tied Justina Machado and her partner Sasha Farber at the top of the leader board with 42 points, so apparently nothing can keep Kaitlyn from her DWTS dream. 

Tonight's eliminated couple was Charles Oakley and Emma Slater.

Dancing With the Stars airs next Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC.