Nastia Liukin is playing hooky from school while her Dancing With the Stars partner Derek Hough recovers.
"Don't tell my professors!" she joked. "No, they know, and they're aware of the situation." Nastia is staying in Los Angeles instead of heading back to New York for school so she can work with her injured partner. While Derek works on getting back on his feet, Sasha Farber has been dancing in his place.
"Derek's definitely got some big shoes to fill...It's not the best circumstance for me to step in," Sasha said. But they've been making the best of it. Derek's been choreographing their routines and was involved in the performance. "It's literally a team effort," Sasha said. "I've been having so much fun, but I just hope he heals really quickly and gets back in the competition."
Nastia and Sasha received two 10s and two 9s for their routine, the highest score of the week. While fans may want Derek to hurry up and get back on the dance floor, Nastia told her pro partner to take it slow. "We're taking it day by day, and I think that's really the only way you can really do it," she said. "But he does have a busy summer, a busy year ahead of him, so I kind of told him, ‘Please don't rush it. You have so much ahead of you.' Obviously I would love to dance with him next week, but if he's not ready enough to do that then we have Sasha, who has been absolutely amazing."
Click play on the video above for more from Nastia and Sasha, including their thoughts on the shocking elimination!
Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.