What Happened to Ray Lewis on ‘Dancing With the Stars’? Details on His Foot Injury
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Christie Brinkley isn’t the only cast member from Dancing With the Stars Season 28 who had to unexpectedly drop out of the competition. On Monday night’s episode, fans learned that Ray Lewis will also no longer be competing this season due to a re-established foot injury.
Read on for details on what happened to the NFL star that caused him to withdraw from the show.
Why did Ray Lewis leave Dancing With the Stars?
The athlete, who was supposed to pay tribute to “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” in honor of Movie Night with pro partner Cheryl Burke, watched from the audience instead during Monday night’s episode.
“In a game in 2010 I tore a tendon in my foot,” Lewis recalled. “And now, all of this dancing, all this on your toes. I’m reliving a problem that I thought I’d never have to relive again. I dealt with pain every practice.”
That pain resulted in three torn tendons in his foot which would require surgery.
“When [the doctor] read that MRI to me today, I knew something was wrong,” he continued, confirming that he had no other choice but to leave the competition.
But his Cha Cha choreography didn’t go to waste. Former Dancing With the Stars winner Rashad Jennings joined Burke on stage to perform the dance that Ray had learned before his injury. Though many fans questioned if Rashad would become Ray’s permanent replacement, it appears as though this was just a one-time dance.
There’s no denying the former linebacker is disappointed that he will no longer be competing in Season 28, but he’s still grateful for the time that he did spend on the show. “God don’t make no mistakes,” he told host Tom Bergeron. “It taught me to dance again.”
He also took to his Instagram page to share a message to the fans who who’ve been rooting for him. “Not the ending I had hoped or worked for but that mirror ball wasn’t in the plans for me,” he captioned a photo of himself dancing with partner Burke before his injury. “I can’t say thank you enough for the support and love 🙏🏿💜 Injuries have never stopped me before and certainly not now. I’ll be back doing the squirrel dance soon enough.”
Who is left on Dancing With the Stars?
Since Ray voluntarily exited the show, no additional couples were voted off during Monday night’s episode. However, it was a close call for Lamar Odom and Peta Murgatroyd and Kel Mitchell and Witney Carson, who were saved from the bottom two due to Ray’s departure.
The other remaining competitors are Hannah Brown and Alan Bersten, Sailor Brinkley-Cook and Val Chmerkovskiy, Ally Brooke and Sasha Farber, Kate Flannery and Pasha Pashkov, Karamo and Jenna Johnson, Sean Spicer and Lindsay Arnold, and James Van Der Beek and Emma Slater.
Dancing With the Stars, Mondays, 8/7c, ABC
