Dancing With The Stars professional Cheryl Burke has revealed that she is still struggling with fatigue and "brain fog" after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
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The ballroom dancer told HELLO! it has been a struggle to rehearse the fast numbers - including last week's jive and this week's coming quickstep - due to the effects of the virus.
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"When people say they are fatigued or have brain fog, it's a real thing," she shared, "it just felt like the first stages of the flu and it turned into losing my taste and smell which soon came back - but it was once I started getting my heart rate up, that's when I could feel [the COVID effects]."
"When we went live Monday at 5pm I was totally fine to do it that once, but it's the back to back to back of rehearsals [that's hard] for me," she continued.
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"Plus then we have to rehearse and camera block as many times as the director wants."
Cheryl acknowledged that the nature of the show means she is lucky, because performing live is a "one and done deal," but that "if we had to do five jives in a row I may have had to rethink my status on the show."
Cody and Cheryl performed a jive on Monday
"This week the quickstep is also not COVID friendly, and also the music has been extended by 35 seconds!" she added.
Cheryl and her celebrity partner Cody Rigsby were cleared to finally return for the show's Disney week, delivering their first in-person performance since the premiere.
Cody and Cheryl's jive performance was warmly received by the judges, who hailed the two for making a big comeback to the ballroom, and particularly praised their interpretation of the week's challenge.
She was diagnosed at the end of September
They eventually were given a score of 27 out of a possible 40, putting them near the bottom of the leaderboard for the night after a strong set of routines.
The second night saw them receive a score of 31 out of 40.
Cody and Cheryl became the first dance partners in Dancing with the Stars history to perform remotely and separately after both testing positive for COVID earlier in September.
As a result of their diagnosis, their routine in week two was judged based on their rehearsal, while they performed separately from their own homes on Britney Night.
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