Switch back, please! Alek Skarlatos may have broken his nose during rehearsals for Monday’s Dancing With the Stars performance after his pro partner for the week, Emma Slater, accidentally elbowed him in the face, TMZ reports.
“He was injured this morning in camera blocking,” his rep confirms to Us Weekly.
In a video posted to TMZ, the international hero, 23, is twirling Slater, 26, when her elbow makes contact with his nose, causing his head to snap back as her jaw drops in shock. TMZ reports that his nose may be broken, but that he is awaiting X-rays to confirm.
The duo are set to perform the rumba tonight as part of Switch-Up Week, which has the remaining contestants dancing with a new pro partner. Skarlatos’ regular partner is Lindsay Arnold.
Slater also Instagrammed a photo of the two prior to her partner’s injury, captioning the image, “Thank you for being my partner this week @alekskarlatos, I’m so excited for our dance today!”
The Army National Guard Specialist made headlines in August when he and two of his friends, Spencer Stone and Anthony Sadler, stopped a potential terrorist attack by tackling an armed man while on a Paris-bound train.
Skarlatos temporarily put his quest for the Season 21 Mirrorball Trophy on hold and raced home to Oregon on Oct. 1 to help when a gunman shot and killed nine people at Umpqua Community College, where was enrolled as a student prior to his 2014 deployment to Afghanistan. He dedicated his performance that week to the “whole community” of Roseburg, where the school is located.
