In an apparent eleventh hour decision, Dorothy Hamill quit her new ‘Dancing with the Stars’ gig Tuesday night moments before the first elimination of the season was about to be announced.
The video package that aired prior to the week-two performance of Hamill and her pro partner Tristan MacManus indicated that the former Olympic figure skater was in severe pain due to a spinal injury.
Dorothy, 56, and Tristan had only two days to practice after her pain subsided and it was obvious. Their ‘Chantilly Lace’ Jive earned the lowest scores of the night with three 5’s.
The big question this morning — did Hamill share the news with show exec’s earlier in the day and allow them to orchestrate her departure for maximum effect? It seems likely.
There was no evidence of a problem when Tristan and Dorothy were told they were safe for another week. They jumped up and down with relief.
That all changed with a dramatic announcement moments before Victor Ortiz or Lisa Vanderpump would have been given the ‘DWTS’ boot.
Host Tom Bergeron said, “Before we continue we have something to reveal that we confirmed during a commercial break. If Dorothy and Tristan could please come out.”
Hamill took the microphone and told the audience, “I’ve taken the advice from my spine surgeon and I need to withdraw from the competition. It could be irreparable nerve damage and it would be completely unfair for me to stay in this and have any of these people go home. It’s not that I don’t want to be here. I wish I could give it my all, but I can’t.”
Check out the video below:
Photo: Twitter-DWTS