“Dancing With the Stars” Contestant Injured

April 29, 2008

Cristian de la Fuente suffered from a severe muscle cramp in his arm on Monday’s Dancing With the Stars, which sent the Chilean soap star to the hospital.

Fuente stopped short in the middle of his samba with Cheryl Burke, pulling back from lifting her off the ground.

“It hurts,” de la Fuente told co-host Samantha Harris backstage, holding an ice pack to his left forearm. “It hurts the arm and it hurts that I couldn’t do it, you know, it’s tough.”

The actor attempted to hide his pain, insisting, “I’m fine.”

The EMT on-site diagnosed a “severe muscle cramp,” co-host Tom Bergeron told the audience.

Meanwhile, the judges—who gave the couple straight 7’s for their performance—had encouraging words. “I really appreciate you went the whole round and you were there for Cheryl,” judge Carrie Ann Inaba said, while Bruno Tonioli told De la Fuente: “I hope you’re coming back because you are a great performer.”