Kaitlyn Bristowe had a rough night in week two of Dancing With the Stars, but that didn't stop her from totally killing it on the dance floor.
The entrepreneur and former Bachelorette star suffered an ankle injury before the show and it was unclear if she'd be able to dance or even continue with the competition. About halfway through the show, her partner Artem Chigvintsev announced that she was feeling well enough to perform, and perform she did!
In the last dance of the episode, Kaitlyn and Artem hit the highest score of the night—and the highest single-dance score so far—which tied them with Justina Machado and Sasha Farber at the top of the leaderboard. When E! News chatted with Kaitlyn and Artem after the show, Kaitlyn was too thrilled to even care about her ankle.
"Honestly, it's so hard to tell because I'm so happy," she said. "It does hurt. It's OK right now, but I'm just so glad we got to do the dance. That dance meant so much to me so I'm just over the moon that we got to perform it. I feel really happy right now."
Kaitlyn said she didn't even immediately register that she earned the highest score and Artem explains that it's hard to comprehend what's happening on the dance floor.
"It just blurs out when we get in front of the judges," he said. "We do listen to them, but we just don't hear anything."
Kaitlyn and Artem were the last to dance but the first couple to be announced as safe during the elimination portion of the evening, which she said reminded her of a time long ago when she was also waiting to hear her name called.
"It reminded me of when I was on The Bachelor and it was night one, the first time I'd ever done it, and I was standing there being like, he's not gonna call my name," she said. "And then he's like 'Kaitlyn!,' and I was the first one, and I was like, 'Smooth sailing from here!'"
Artem said the second week of competition is also the hardest week, so there were a lot of nerves going on that weren't even related to Kaitlyn's injury.
"There's so much more at stake," he said. "I think when you do the premiere it's all about your first experience stepping out on that stage and performing live. I think the second week you're kinda like, OK, this is what I need to do to be better."
Hit play above for more from Kaitlyn and Artem!
Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.