ABC

Melissa Gilbert had what the judges called her best performance of the season during Monday’s Dancing With the Stars — but it didn’t go off without a hitch. The 47-year-old actress left the show’s Mid-City Los Angeles studio for the hospital before the end of the live broadcast.

Host Tom Bergeron acknowledged Gilbert’s injury at the end of the live taping, but ABC reps on site would not elaborate, only saying that a full update would be given during Tuesday’s episode.

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Backstage, Gilbert and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy‘s fellow competitors helped piece together the events.

In the middle of Gilbert’s Paso Doble with Chmerkovskiy, which earned them a cumulative score of 22, she hit her head on the ballroom floor. And though she didn’t let on during the judges’ commentary, pro Karina Smirnoff told The Hollywood Reporter and other media reps that Gilbert started complaining of dizziness and of feeling lightheaded. She was so weakened, singer Gavin DeGraw carried her down from the stage’s elevated “red room” and out of the studio.

With about 20 minutes left in the episode, Gilbert was put on a stretcher and taken, by ambulance, to a hospital. Chmerkovskiy followed her.

In 2010, Gilbert underwent surgery for a broken back — an injury she sustained while performing in a musical production of Little House on the Prairie. She and her partner had acknowledged earlier in the season they were taking care to work around her injury.

There was no sense of alarm after the show, but there wasn’t a surplus of details either.

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More when we get it.  In the meantime, we wish our former SAG prez well.

Arl

The Ol’ SAG Watchdog

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Melissa Gilbert is the latest contestant to fall victim to the “Dancing With the Stars” curse.

Former “Little House on the Prairie Star” Gilbert was rushed to the hospital during the broadcast of Monday night’s “DWTS,” after hitting her head on the dance floor during her Paso Doble performance with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy, the actress’ representative told TheWrap. Following the bump to her head, Gilbert complained of dizziness.

Gilbert tweeted later, noting that she’s “alright,” though she had sustained a mild concussion and whiplash during the incident.

“I’m alright,” Gilbert wrote. “Mild concussion and whiplash. Very soon I will be safely home resting and being taken care of.”

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Even before the injury, Gilbert, 47, complained that it had been a particularly grueling effort preparing for the performance. In a Monday blog post she wrote for People magazine — titled “This Week Has Been a Killer” — Gilbert groused: “Bruises are not sexy. Neither are burns, cuts, scrapes, sore muscles and calloused feet … I have a burn on my ankle from being dragged across the floor by Maks. It will scar. No question. The scar is mine. I earned it by working really hard.”

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Gilbert joins a long list of “Dancing With the Stars” contestants who’ve succumbed to the physical strains of performing on the show. Last year, Kym Johnson was sent to the hospital after suffering injuries while rehearsing with partner Hines Ward. And “Jackass” star Steve-O — whose previous feats of physical daredevilry include stapling his scrotum to his leg and attaching a leech to his eyes — had to see multiple specialists after landing on his mic pack while doing a flip during a rehearsal.