Cristian de la Fuente reveals that he had moments of doubt during the tango, his first dance in last Monday's competition episode of ABC's “Dancing With the Stars.”
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“Dancing With the Stars”
Final four take to the floor
When: 8 tonight
Where: KGTV/Channel 10
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Having ruptured a tendon in his left arm the week before during a samba, the Chilean actor had every reason to be nervous when he took the floor with professional dance partner Cheryl Burke.
“We were dancing through the tango,” he says the following morning, “and there were a couple places where I made a mistake, because I was afraid. I was never perfect-perfect.
“We were getting to the end of the dance, and there was a point where I looked straight into Cheryl's eyes, and she looked at me, and she gave me a wink. I was like, 'OK, we're doing a good job.' ”
Even better, the dance earned 28 out of 30 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba (who gave it a perfect 10), Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli. Burke and de la Fuente then returned for a mambo, which earned two more perfect 10s, winding up with 29 out of 30, leaving the duo on the top of the judges' leader board. De la Fuente is one of the show's final four competitors, with Kristi Yamaguchi, Jason Taylor and Marissa Janet Winokur.
“I'm still shocked,” de la Fuente says. “I'm still surprised. My only hope was to be able to dance, but the fact that we did a good job and got great scores, that was shocking to me – shocking in a good way.”
According to de la Fuente, the 24 hours between his injury and when the viewer votes kept him in the competition April 28 were a “roller coaster of emotions.”
The immediate word on-air was that de la Fuente had a severe muscle cramp, but tests later that night and the next day at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles revealed that it was actually a ruptured tendon.
It was then that one of de la Fuente's former competitors in the show stepped in to help.
“I went to Cedars,” de la Fuente says, “and then afterward I got a call from Steve Guttenberg. He said that he found the best doctor for my type of injury. He was Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who is the head doctor of the Dodgers.
“Then, the next day, I got a phone call from Sly Stallone, who I did 'Driven' with, and his brother-in-law is Neal ElAttrache.”
At the last minute Tuesday, says de la Fuente, the orthopedic surgeon agreed to delay the operation and gave consent for the actor to continue in the competition.
Then, it was up to Burke to choreograph around the injury, and for de la Fuente to not do anything to aggravate it. Adding to the stress was the judges' decision to finally allow one lift each in the dances.
Fearing side effects, de la Fuente says he didn't take pain medication before dancing, but he did wear an arm brace under his suit for the tango. That came to him via Jason Taylor – who's also de la Fuente's trailer neighbor and cigar-smoking companion – who put in a call to his football team, the Miami Dolphins.
“I always say,” de la Fuente says, “if I don't take the trophy home, I'm taking something more valuable, and that's his friendship.”
