PureDWTS Season 28: Christie Brinkley Out Due to Broken Arm; Daughter Sailor Stepping in
It’s been a busy morning, so I don’t have all the deets, but Christie apparently (recently?) broke her arm during rehearsal and can’t dance, so her 21-year-old daughter Sailor is taking her place this season, per GMA:
“Dancing With the Stars” contestant Christie Brinkley broke her arm in rehearsals and will not be able to hit the dance floor this season.
In a statement, BBC Studios and ABC said, “Brinkley suffered injuries which required surgery to her wrist and arm,” keeping her from participating in the competition.
But Brinkley’s fans will still have someone to root for: her daughter.
Brinkley’s 21-year-old daughter, Sailor Brinkley-Cook, a Sports Illustrated model, has stepped in to take her mother’s place for the remainder of the season.
“Showbiz is all about getting a break, and Sailor and I both got one on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ this season,” Brinkley said in a statement, joking about her injury. “Sailor joined the cast when I got mine … ouch somebody stop me, it hurts to laugh!”
Brinkley-Cook has already hit the ground running with only hours to learn her mother’s entire dance routine.
She even fit perfectly into her mom’s performance outfit for the season premiere. Brinkley’s outfit did not need to be altered at all.
And this is me rolling my eyes…cause the few previous times that someone got injured prior to the premiere and they found a replacement, we got the likes of Holly Madison, Carson Kressley, and Master P (Melissa Rycroft was a notably skilled outlier). OF COURSE they just happened to have a young, able-bodied, semi-famous partner waiting in the wings for the golden boy when his older partner of questionable dance skill broke her arm in the 11th hour…
ETA: Vogue here. Here is a video from GMA on this news. The cast talks on it at camera blocking and more..
UPDATE: Per a source, the broken arm happened on Thursday at rehearsal, and Sailor was already rehearsing in Christie’s stead by Friday…and she apparently “has some previous dance training”. *facepalm*
I’m sure Val was highly upset when his older partner was switched out for her 21-year-old daughter. I hope Christie recovers quickly with no complications, makes me question what in the world Val was making his 65-year-old partner do.
Wow, sad. I was really looking forward to watching her dance this season more than all of them. -_- But, I hope she heals up with no issues.
# Indie – There’s video of the accident. (There’s video of EVERYTHING during rehearsal…) Christie tripped and went down. Ac-ci-dent. Basic on-the-floor moves.
i am kinda bummed out. I am sure her daughter is a great get but Christie was one of my favs this season out of the celebs already.
Sad she’s not competing, she is 65 though and has Val as a partner, this has happened before. Danika, broken rib; Nancy Mckeon, broken foot; Rumor Willis, fractured foot; ginger Zee, pelvis injury; etc. I know there are other pros with partners being injured but it seems more frequent with Val. Just my observation.
I’m sure it was an accident and I hope her arm heals quickly and she doesn’t have issues from it. But in my opinion, he should have been given another partner in the same age range. How convenient that Mr. Huge Ego is given a 21 year old. Even with all of the changes they’re supposedly doing, they still want to make sure he sticks around.
I was thinking the same thing, that Val got lucky in getting Sailor as a replacement. He’s likely going to do a lot better with her than with Christie. And they can milk the whole stepping in at the last minute. Good thing he’s married, otherwise they’d probably showmance them.
That said, I’m excited to see her. I’m sorry for Christie though, and am disappointed at the same time that she’s out. I had wanted to see her on the show for years.
That’s really quite sad and at the same time a little curious.
While I don’t doubt that the injury is real and I certainly wish Christie the very best, I’m also… let’s say intrigued by how the process of casting her daughter in a time frame of a few hours or at most a daymust have worked. “Hey, you wanna dance on live television on Monday?”- “Yeah, sure!” – “Great, here’s your contract, your mic and your spray tan, good luck!”
I’m guessing they were waiting so long to publish the info in order to make a big announcement on GMA and get more press on the day of the show? How very show biz of them.
Anyway, hope everyone is going to enjoy premiere night 🙂
Strange, I woke up this morning and had this odd feeling something happened in DWTSLand, and then of course I see this. While I’m hoping Christie recovers quickly I’m very unhappy with Val as I feel like he shouldn’t have had Christie in the first place. Val always choreographs such ambitious transition moves I’m not surprised this happened, but dude done screwed up as I think if Christie was with anyone else it could’ve prevented the injury. As for Sailor I wish her well in competition and I hold hope that another potential ringer just pushes out he-who-must-not-be-named, Ray, and Lamar out quicker.
@rosalu with the way this season is going I’m actually surprised they didn’t wait until tonight to totally milk it (especially going the route of ‘will she or won’t she dance’).
if Sailor can dance Val just might have landed himself another mirror ball trophy
I’m sad. I was looking forward to Christie being a good representation for her age group. I hope Christie can do a routine in the finale of the show. 🙁
I still have Karamo and James to root for.
Even with minimal rehearsing, I’m sure Sailor will do better than some of the rustier contestants on the show. I’m curious how she’ll perform tonight.
I don’t know if I think she’s got it in the bag yet. We’ll see after tonight, and who knows with the way voting is going this season how people will do. Somehow I see that backfiring on them and defeating the purpose of keeping better dancers around.
@nickp, I agree and that’s probably what TPTB are hoping/planning on. They will probably be scored high tonight with the judges all saying how much she was able to learn in the amount of time she had and what a trouper she is to be stepping in for her Mom. And I can’t help but think this is dancing with the “stars” and her daughter is not a star.
Agreed, @Kara – I don’t think Val has another MBT in the bag by any means, given that Sailor is likely to fall short in terms of fanbase up against nostalgic faves like James and Kel, and big personalities like Karamo, Hannah, and Lauren. Plus Val falls woefully short in the choreo department, compared to pretty much all of the female pros and a couple of the men. However, I think he’s likely to last longer now that he’s got an able-bodied partner with dance experience, and the judges are likely going to gas him up tonight for the “stellar job” he’s done with Sailor “in only a few hours of rehearsal time”.
I think they need to be REALLY careful with the pimping and the bullshit. They’ve lost a huge audience and they won’t get it back by obviously pimping one moderately talented/popular pro.
Good job breaking a 65 year old woman, Val. Why oh why does this horrid man still have a job?
I know injuries happen but Val has one of the worst track records.
Most if not all of his partners have had one or more.
Including a pregnant Ginger Zee.
I’ll never forget Rumer Willis hitting her head I think and when Val asked her if she was OK Rumer looked him in the eye and said: “You SLAMMED me so hard!” I’m surprised that after all these years TPTB don’t get on him more for this.
During last night’s judging CAI said something that sounded like, “You have a real treasure there” to Val regarding his good fortune with Sailor. Then Val replied a little quickly and very confidently, “I know.”
That little scene with CAI & Val confirmed my hunches about this “treasure” and I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling bothered by it.