Cheryl Burke Would ‘Love to be a Mentor’ on ‘DWTS’ Following Partner Ray Lewis’ Injury
Even though Cheryl Burke‘s journey on Dancing With the Stars season 28 has come to an end due to partner Ray Lewis‘ foot injury, she still has plans for her future on the reality series — but it doesn’t involve competing.
“I’d actually love to be a mentor to these couples,” Cheryl explained to Closer Weekly and other reporters during the third episode of DWTS. “We all need guidance; we all need a third eye. What we did for juniors, in a way, I’d be there for anyone who wants help or anyone who wants someone to watch their dance and give an opinion.”
Sadly, Cheryl didn’t know that Ray suffered an injury to his foot prior to competing on the show. Because of his profession, Ray thought that he had everything handled.
“He’s a football player,” she explained. “He never said anything to me about the injury until I actually thought that I might have a minor tear in my rotator cuff; then he was like, ‘I have something to tell you,’ but he wanted to say it off camera. He didn’t want to seem like he was complaining.”
Once Ray told Cheryl about his injury, she understood that it was time for them to leave the show. “It happens. It just sad,” she said. “It’s too soon; it’s been a while since this has happened.”
However, Ray did try to dance for as long as he could before calling it quits. But after the first week, he couldn’t ignore the pain any longer. “I noticed a lot of little changes. I would just look at her and say, ‘Something’s off. I don’t know what, but something’s off,'” he recalled.
The pain was so bad that it got to the point where Ray had to start icing his foot in a “garbage can full of ice.”
“One day it was unbearable; it was shooting up my leg. I’ve lived with pain, but something’s wrong,” he remembered. “I went and saw the doctor and had an MRI.”
Unfortunately, Ray will need to have surgery on his foot but, once it heals properly, he hopes the producers on DWTS will give him another shot at the mirrorball trophy.
“They’ve got to give me a redo,” he said. “It was awkward; she kind of knew and I was trying to fight through it.”
Hopefully, Ray and Cheryl will be on the next season of DWTS!
