ABC/ADAM LARKEYThat nasty Dancing With the Stars curse strikes again…
Only, this time it's not so bad—Ty Murray just has a colorful shiner.
After taking a beat-down from the judges in Monday's episode and sweating out his spot in Tuesday's elimination, the rodeo man was rehearsing with partner Chelsie Hightower when he was knocked in the face with her microphone pack.
“What happened is that I threw Chelsie into the air during a group rehearsal and her mic pack fell off and hit me in the eye," Murray said in a statement. "It was bleeding for a little while and is slightly black and blue, but I kept ice on it and it won't have any effect on our dancing."
"It was a great toss in the air and a twirl," Hightower told E! News. "I went flying, as did the mic battery pack, and it smacked Ty in the eye. Fortunately, neither the mic pack nor I are as heavy as the bulls Ty is used to tangling with."
The wrangler was modest about the comparison.
"It's not a big deal to me, because in bull riding I see that from time to time, but I guess people aren't used to seeing a little blood in the ballroom," he said.
The ballroom babes and bros are used to hearing snaps, crackles and pops, though...especially this season.
Murray's wife, Jewel, had to back out of the competition before it even started when she fractured tibiae in both of her legs. Nancy O'Dell also had to bail for a torn meniscus. Gilles Marini will need shoulder surgery following his run on the show. Reject Holly Madison's ribs were roughed up, and Steve Wozniak had to shake it with a cast on his foot.
Not unlike Murray, Steve-O 's injury came courtesy of that clunky mic pack. The prankster was temporarily sidelined when he flipped and landed on the electronic still attached to his back. (Note to DWTS producers: Find a better way!)
—Additional reporting by Marc Malkin
(Originally published on April 17, 2009, at 12:21 p.m. PT)