Monday, December 24, 2007

Cheryl Burke is ready to Rumba


Cheryl Burke, the two-time Dancing with the Stars champion, is not suffering from appendicitis and can rejoin the DWTS tour as soon as Friday, E! Online has confirmed.

A tour spokeswoman said in a statement that Burke met with her personal physician and, after undergoing some tests, received a clean bill of health.

"Burke will be performing alongside the all-star cast in her hometown of San Jose, California, and at all remaining shows on the tour," the rep said.

The 23-year-old Latin-dance specialist who helped Drew Lachey and Emmitt Smith win the prestigious disco-ball trophy was forced to miss the tour's opening night Tuesday in Seattle after she suffered severe cramps during rehearsal.

At the hospital, doctors suspected appendicitis, but she flew home to get a second opinion.

Her return to the tour has to be good news for choreographer and DWTS veteran Louis van Amstel, who called Burke's absence Tuesday a scheduling "disaster."

"Cheryl can't be gone for more than a week. I won't let her!" the panicking pro exclaimed, probably only half-joking.

Karina Smirnoff stepped in to dance with Lachey, a change of plans that, she admitted later to tvguide.com, didn't go off without a hitch.

"We had a couple of moments when we ran onto the floor at the wrong time, in the wrong place, in the wrong direction," Smirnoff said Wednesday. "But that won't happen tonight."

The show will go on without Burke again Thursday in Sacramento, but she'll be back in Lachey's arms by tomorrow.

Sabrina Bryan, Joey Lawrence and Wayne Newton (singing, not dancing) are also in the lineup for this leg of the 37-city tour.

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