Despite being rushed to the hospital, Tamar Braxton will not be disqualified from Dancing With The Stars. She returned to the live show in time to perform her second dance of the night, keeping her safe from elimination for another week.
The 38-year-old actress and singer became sick during rehearsals, having been battling pneumonia for two weeks, and her husband Vincent Herbert rushed her to the ER. She was not present at the beginning of the show’s live broadcast and, although she performed her individual routine at rehearsal, she was not in the final group performance and had instead been rushed off to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Braxton’s dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy was on the phone with her, “pleading with her to come back” according to Entertainment Tonight. She did not come back in time to perform her first dance, leaving the DWTS judges to base their scores on the pair’s performance at dress rehearsal.
You just saw a person that shouldn’t have been here and was here because she felt bad for her partner. I feel really bad because it shouldn’t be like that. It should be a fun journey.
Fearing disqualification, Braxton returned to the show just in time to perform her and Chmerkovskiy’s team-up routine to “Hey Jude” with fellow competitors Sharna Burgess and Nick Carter. Braxton was obviously exhausted after the performance, but the judges rewarded the pairs’ performance with a 27 out of 30, letting the pair avoid elimination for another week.
Braxton cited her hectic schedule as the cause of her health being compromised. “Monday through Wednesday, I was at The Real. Thursday, I was in Vegas. Friday, I came back to L.A. and had a concert with [R&B singer] Kem. Saturday, I got on a plane and went to Orlando, and Sunday, I’m back here doing my camera blocking,” she said. “It’s just nonstop.”
Tom Bergeron explained that Braxton would have faced disqualification had she not returned to perform her second dance, which would have made her the second competitor to be kicked off from DWTS this season due to health issues. Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak was removed from the competition in September after she suffered a mini stroke while in her Georgia home.
Braxton’s return surprised everyone. The show’s host Tom Bergeron was left practically speechless. “Wow. … Just wow.”
