Elaine Hendrix provided Dancing with the Stars fans with a highly-anticipated update following her hospitalization this week that prevented her from performing live during Tuesday's Halloween Night episode. The actress, 54, was shown being carried off the ballroom floor on a stretcher, surrounded by paramedics, in footage taken during her Tuesday morning rehearsal with pro partner Alan Bersten. DWTS co-host Alfonso Ribiero revealed at the top of the episode that Elaine was currently in the hospital being evaluated, but that she had the opportunity to dance again the next week, as long as she recovered physically and fans voted to keep her and Alan in the competition.
She and Alan did, in fact, land enough votes to stay in the competition (it was Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Jen Affleck and pro Jan Ravnik who were voted off the show). Elaine returned home later Tuesday night after her hospital stay, during which doctors diagnosed her with a "really bad muscle sprain in between the ribs, which makes it hard to breathe," Alan revealed Thursday on the Dancing with the Stars Official Podcast. And now, Elaine is recovering and planning to get back into dance rehearsals soon, she announced to fans. Her goal is to begin dancing again on Friday, though Alan noted that they may push that day back if needed.
© Disney"I'm doing OK. I am up and about. I am tender, I am sore, but I am starting pain management today," Elaine said in a video posted Wednesday to social media. Alan sat next to Elaine in the video, which appeared to be filmed at the DWTS rehearsal studio. "We'll be back at it Friday and I'm just getting ready to be in that ballroom next Tuesday."
The dance partners both expressed gratitude to the fans who voted for them, despite only getting to see rehearsal footage of their performance, an Argentine Tango to "Bad to the Bone" by 2WEI and Bri Bryant.
© Disney"All of your messages, I'm seeing it all and I just want you to know that first and foremost, I'm OK and second of all, I'm ready to go," Elaine said. "Just thank you so much for all the love that you're showing, and thank you to the entire Dancing with the Stars team for taking such good care of me. We will see you next Tuesday out on the ballroom."
Alan also provided fans with a behind-the-scenes look at what went on Tuesday morning when Elaine got injured, sharing on the podcast that the entire DWTS cast and crew rallied around Elaine after she experienced "excruciating pain" and struggled to breathe halfway through running through their dance.
© Disney"For, like, 20 minutes, it was just waiting for the ambulance and making sure she can be OK, because we didn't know what was going on," Alan said. "The EMT came in right away to try and assess her, but she was in excruciating pain. She couldn't lay down. We kind of just held her for 10 minutes. And then we were able to get her down, and she was down for another 10 minutes before the ambulance came and was able to administer some pain medication to help her get onto the gurney. She went through a lot and the hardest part was the unknown: standing there with her and seeing her in pain and not being able to do anything. ... And the pain wouldn't go away, which was quite alarming."
