After testing positive for COVID-19, both Cody and Cheryl managed to stay in the game with a unique experimental performance.
Cheryl Burke and Cody Rigsby are keeping their mirrorball trophy dreams alive! After testing positive for COVID-19, both Burke and Rigsby had to get creative with their performance on this week's Dancing With the Stars.
However, Rigsby was determined to dance on Britney Night, which was DWTS' tribute to the music of Britney Spears. So, the Peloton instructor and his pro partner came up with a plan: they would perform remotely.
However, what they managed to pull off on Wednesday was more than just appearing via Zoom. They not only performed remotely, they did so from their separate living rooms! Meaning they both danced solo, but choreographed and timed to give the illusion that they were dancing side-by-side when viewed in split-screen.
"I thought we killed it!" Burke told ET's Matt Cohen after Monday's show. "I feel like we accomplished a lot."
For Rigsby, he was just thrilled he was able to perform on a night dedicated to his pop icon heroine.
"I paid homage to my diva, my everything, my Britney Spears," Rigsby marveled.
They built the illusion in the very beginning of their jazz number -- set to "Gimme More" -- when Rigsby handed a black fedora off screen, and Burke "grabbed it" from him, to present the visual idea that they were dancing together.
What's more, the pair performed live, so there was no room for error, and they had to rehearse all week while in lockdown, all alone.
While the pair tried the best given the circumstances, the judges -- including Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli -- had to score them in consideration of what everyone else brought to the table. The pair ended up earning three 6s for a total of 18 out of 30.
"He nailed it, we nailed it, it was perfect," Burke said, after expressing disappointment with the judges' feedback.
"It was harder than if I was dancing and physically touching my partner, because I could maneuver and manipulate his body if anything were to go wrong," she explained. "And there's also camera angles. There's a lot of times when the director will have a close-up of your face and you won't even know the couple messed up with the foot work."
"We had nothing to hide behind here. What you see is what you get," she added. "It was a wide shot and it stayed that way."
Notably, judge Derek Hough was absent from Monday's show after a potential COVID exposure incident -- so he sat out the episode out of an abundance of caution.
One day before the pair was set to compete in the show's second week, Burke revealed that she'd tested positive for COVID.
"I feel so bad. I feel so bad for Cody, I feel like I'm letting him down. I just feel like s**t and it's so overwhelming," Burke tearfully said in an Instagram video. "It's Sunday and the show's tomorrow.... I just hope I didn't spread it."
Neither Burke nor Rigsby appeared live on the Sept. 27 episode of the show, rather judges and fans scored their salsa via rehearsal footage. They earned a score of 24 out of 40, and were able to stave off elimination.
As for Rigsby, who had COVID earlier this year, he later revealed that's he'd contracted it once again, despite being vaccinated.
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