Maksim Chmerkovskiy in on the mend. The Dancing With the Stars pro underwent a procedure on his calf after sustaining an injury while rehearsing with his DWTS season 24 partner, Heather Morris of Glee fame.
Chmerkovskiy sat out competition during week two. Morris performed with Alan Bersten, a professional dancer who has subbed for injured Dancing With the Stars participants in the past, and will again step into the ballroom with the substitute. Chmerkovskiy had a Skype session with Morris and Bersten during their rehearsals to inform them on the latest about his recovery.
"They extracted some of my bone marrow stem cells," Chmerkovskiy explained to his partner. "Made a concentrate out of that, mixed it with my plasma-rich protein—if that means anything to anybody out there…and they injected it back into my calf. "
The liquid fills in the tear he sustained and will start to regenerate tissue and facilitate the healing process.
"I still feel like we have a chance and you deserve it. I want to give you 150 percent effort and be physically as active as I was at my best when nothing hurt. I want to come back and win," Chmerkovskiy told Morris.
After performing with Bersten during the second week of competition, Morris told us Bersten "was very worried about me all night." "I was like, ‘No, no, no,' this is about you and I both," she said.
"The most important thing though is Heather gets comfortable and Maks gets better soon," Bersten told us. "It's not easy for her to transfer to a different partner at the last minute."
Morris said when Chmerkovskiy initially injured himself he was "so manly and humble."
"He was like, ‘No, I'm fine.' And was just trying to figure it out by himself," she said.
Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays, 8 p.m. on ABC.