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Dancing With the Stars Backstage Scoop: Injured Val Chmerkovskiy Reveals That Show Almost "Replaced" Him!

Exclusive! "I'm lucky it happened…it made me enjoy the moment a little more," the ABC reality star says of the eye injury he suffered during dress rehearsals

By Tierney Bricker May 21, 2013 11:08 AMTags
Zendaya, Val Chmerkovskiy, Dancing with the StarsABC/Adam Taylor

Talk about performing under pressure.

Val Chermkovskiy and Zendaya Coleman proved just how badly they wanted to win Dancing With the Stars on Monday night's finale when the pair performed just hours after Val suffered a serious eye injury during their dress rehearsal. 

In fact, Val's injury was so serious that he immediately went to the hospital after he and Zendaya finished their interviews. And during our chat with the pair, Val revealed that producers were considering replacing him with another professional dancer just one hour before the start of the finale!

Watch: "Dancing With the Stars" Injury

"It was an hour before the show, so everybody panicked," Val explained of his injury. "There were talks about replacing me, and that was not going to happen. I was just praying it was going to stop bleeding, which, thank God, it did because it's a very deep cut."

Zendaya recalled the scary moment during the rehearsal when her elbow hit Val's eye, saying, "I already knew it was bad, and then he was going through dress rehearsal with blood all over his face. I just had to keep going because I know he wants me to keep going. He kept smiling, so that's the cue to keep on going."

Oddly enough, Val told us he believes the injury actually helped his performance. "My back is killing me. Like seriously killing me. My shoulder is killing me. [My eye] honestly took my mind off all that pain. I'm lucky it happened…It made me enjoy the moment a little more." 

Watch: Kellie Pickler's Emotional Last Dance

See more from the DWTS finalists on tonight's E! News at 7 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.