On Tuesday night's Dancing with the Stars results show, professional dancers Derek Hough, Julianne Hough and Mark Ballas were supposed to perform a contemporary routine together during Kylie Minogue's performance of her hit song "Can't Get You Out of My Head." However, during rehearsal earlier that day, Derek injured his neck and immediately had to stop.

"We've got a more contemporary number this week for Kylie Minogue. And we have a move where our arms kind of come down and we throw the head back. As he threw his head back he cracked his neck," Mark Ballas said.

Derek was immediately taken to a hospital on a stretcher for tests and observation.

"Luckily, there was no disk damage, no spine damage and no bone damage," Mark said. Derek was released after doctors found that he had only strained his neck.

Although Derek did not participate in the professional performance on Tuesday night, he'll be back for next Monday's performance show in which the remaining nine couples will compete. This is good news for his partner, Shannon Elizabeth, who has proven that she is a serious contender in this season of Dancing with the Stars.

Last season of Dancing with the Stars was certainly a dramatic one, with Jane Seymour being taken away by ambulance for food poisoning, Marie Osmond fainting on stage, and both celebrities losing a parent. It seems like injuries and illnesses are beginning again this spring, with Derek's neck injury and Anna Trebunskaya's illness that prevented her from performing the encore of the tango with the recently ousted Steve Guttenberg. The happy result of her sickness was that it gave the Gutte a chance to hoof it with Anna's hubby, Jonathan Roberts, in the best (albeit, only) man-on-man tango, or "mango," if you will, that I have ever seen.

This is not the kind of drama that I like to see on Dancing with the Stars. Personally, I like watching the show for the dancing and the camaraderie between competitors. It's the kind of feel-good show in which you want everyone to perform a lot of great routines and then laugh and joke together backstage, the kind of show in which you want everyone to succeed. Let's hope that this is the last trip to the hospital we'll see this season.



-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: KABC Los Angeles
(Image courtesy of ABC)