Update!

Dancing's Karina Smirnoff Feeling "Great" After Surgery

Dancer is "resting comfortably" after minor knee surgery, is looking forward to Dancing With the Stars

By Natalie Finn Feb 03, 2009 1:44 AMTags
Karina SmirnoffJeff Frank/ZUMA Press

Turns out Karina Smirnoff's most recent engagement involved scalpels and anesthesia.

The newly betrothed Dancing With the Stars pro is on the mend after undergoing knee surgery, she confirmed Monday to E! News.

"I feel great," Smirnoff says. "I'm walking around easily, doing my physical therapy. The doc did an amazing job and said that I should be 100 percent by February 10th."

She says that she injured her knee on the Dancing With the Stars tour and an MRI showed a torn meniscus.

Added Smirnoff's rep: "She is resting comfortably and is expected to make a full recovery. She’s looking forward to the new season of Dancing With the Stars."

DWTS' eighth season kicks off March 9. (How nice of Smirnoff to get her injury out of the way before the show starts and an inevitable host of other injuries and distractions take center stage.)

The limber beauty went under the knife on Friday and was forced to miss an appearance with fiancé Maksim Chmerkovskiy at the Shrine Asian Kitchen nightclub in Foxwoods, Conn., according to Life & Style, which first reported on her condition.

Meanwhile, also possibly in need of repair is Smirnoff's line of communication with her camp.

A booking agent has filed a $6,000 lawsuit against a San Antonio restaurant, claiming it failed to pay Smirnoff's agreed-upon appearance fee for showing up at a March of Dimes benefit.

The restaurant's manager tells E! News that the agent, Jimmy Villareal, contacted the eatery about hosting a March of Dimes event for her to appear at and that it was mutually understood no money would change hands.

But Smirnoff's rep says there was no mention that the party was a charity benefit.

"Karina was hired by a booking agency to do a personal appearance and the booking agency has some kind of dispute with the restaurant. Karina has no participation in this lawsuit."

—Additional reporting by Michael Yo

(Originaly published Feb. 2, 2009 at 4:22 p.m. PT)