Gathering The Strength To Go On
With several performers facing injuries after various points in the season, it is really important to take a look at the injuries that can occur and how some of these injuries have perhaps damaged Dancing with the Stars. With injuries hitting not just the professionals but also the celebrities it is very important to look around at all of the minor details to see how the larger picture, the title of winner was actually impacted.
The first hit that occurred was to professional Kym Johnson. This occurred during season three while she was paired with talk show host and former politician Jerry Springer. During one of the actual performance, Kym hyper extended one of her legs creating a serious injury. She was however able to continue dancing. Overall, the couple did not fare well and were eliminated soon after.
During Season five, there were several problems that were encountered. The first was during week five when Marie Osmond was dancing. For exact reasons unknown, she fainted in the middle of the dance. The show was immediately cut to a commercial break and she was treated. Additionally during week six Jane Seymour was missed from the results show due to a case of food poisoning. Due to the show only being results, rather than an actual performance Jane was not harmed for missing the date.
Another injury in season five was Mark Ballas a professional. His injury occurred during the season finale for the season. He was performing an encore dance with Sabrina Bryan his celebrity partner when he suffered a shoulder injury. After the dance, he was sent to the hospital to seek immediate treatment. Because this injury occurred long after the couple had been eliminated it did not harm their likelihood of winning at all.
Season six brought with it relative calm. However, Kristi Yamaguchi suffered from an injured ankle during week four. She managed to perform without incident and later went on to actually win the season. Cristian de la Fuente suffered from a ruptured tendon in his left bicep during his actual performance. The judges allowed a bit of slack, only judging his performance up until the actual injury occurred. Immediately following the dance, he was sent to the hospital and was not present for the rest of the show.
With all of the seasons of the show that have thus been released and with Dancing with the Stars now marching towards season seven the overall number of injuries is extremely low. Working to avoid injuries is always a top priority for the show, but on the occasion that injury does occur they are promptly treated which for most contestants has allowed them to return to the show quickly to continue competing. To this point, there have been no contestants who had to pull out of the show completely due to an injury.
While there are of course other problems such as Sara Evans withdrawing due to a divorce and even other casting changes before the show actually starts the overall number of contestants that are injured and thus influencing the overall conclusion is extremely small. This has allowed very few circumstances to actually impact the overall winner for each season. After all, the season six contestant with an ankle injury Kristi Yamaguchi even went out to claim a win.
