Ryan Lochte And Cheryl Burke Prepare For Week 2 Of ‘Dancing With The Stars’: Will His Injury And The Protester Incident Hold Him Back?

Season 23 of Dancing with the Stars got off to quite the wild note during the premiere as protesters approached Ryan Lochte and Cheryl Burke on-stage after their debut performance. Security quickly hustled the two men away, but it sounds as if it left the DWTS duo both physically and emotionally rattled. Are Ryan and Cheryl going to be able to bounce back for their Week 2 performance, which is set to air on Monday night?

Fans were stunned as they watched the event unfold during the premiere, and later, other camera angles showed what went down and how close the protesters got to the duo. Cheryl Burke and Ryan Lochte were both clearly flustered by the bizarre incident, and the Dancing with the Stars pro shared via People that her partner did injure his ankle a bit during the frightening encounter. Will Lochte’s injury hamper his Week 2 performance?

Burke shared that not only were both she and Ryan feeling pretty shaken after security tackled the two protesters, but her DWTS partner was also slightly injured as the protester was taken down. She noted that she was a bit concerned about this heading into their first rehearsal for their Week 2 quickstep, but the Dancing with the Stars pro noted that she is just glad that nobody was more seriously injured.

Can Ryan and Cheryl put aside their jitters after all that went down, push through the ankle injury, and come out shining in their DWTS quickstep? It sounds as if Lochte and Burke are definitely trying their best, but it has definitely been a challenge that they didn’t anticipate having to face.

A few days after the DWTS premiere, he posted a note on Instagram thanking his girlfriend, family, fans, and friends for all of their support. He noted that he appreciates all of the love he has gotten from everyone, including his partner and fellow Dancing with the Stars castmates. Lochte added that he is working hard to do his best and is dedicated to his new show family.

Cheryl also posted a note to her Instagram page thanking everybody for their concern. She detailed that her heart was aching for the Lochte family, as she feels that nobody deserves what they faced in that Dancing with the Stars premiere incident. She thanked the DWTS security team and encouraged everybody to be positive for one another.

So, what are Ryan and Cheryl doing for their Week 2 performance? PureDWTS indicates that they will be doing the quickstep to the theme song from The Muppet Show, and Dancing with the Stars spoilers tease that they will be performing last. That is a heavy-duty spot to dance in, which probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given the controversy that has been surrounding Lochte lately. Will they be able to deliver on this one?

Cheryl and Ryan landed in the middle of the premiere leaderboard, so they are pretty likely to stay out of danger when it comes to the first elimination. Despite all of the controversy that preceded his spin on Season 23 of Dancing with the Stars, it is quite likely that Lochte and Burke will be sticking around for a while, as they are definitely generating a lot of buzz. As for which pair does seem likely to be in danger, the number-crunching at PureDWTS points toward Rick Perry and Emma Slater, Jake T. Austin and Jenna Johnson, and Terra Jole and Sasha Farber as the three couples most likely to be in jeopardy.

Could “Team Cherloch” end up winning the Mirrorball trophy? These two definitely will have their work cut out for them, but fans certainly won’t be counting them out. DWTS viewers will definitely be interested to see how voters respond to this duo and watch to see how things are edited for them. Despite all of the controversy from the Olympics, the show clearly is thrilled to have him as part of the Season 23 cast, and chances are that they’ll be anxious to see him stick around for a while.

The DWTS duo don’t seem to have mentioned anything more about Lochte’s ankle injury since they started rehearsals for their quickstep. Given Ryan’s history as an Olympian swimmer, it seems unlikely that he would be slowed down much by something of that nature. Tune in on Monday, September 19 to see how Ryan Lochte and Cheryl Burke do with their Week 2 dance, and don’t forget that the first Dancing with the Stars elimination of Season 23 will happen during the results show on Tuesday night.

[Featured Image by Cheryl Burke/Instagram]