Season 8 “Dancing With the Stars” alum Gilles Marini made it to the finals while battling some serious injuries.
On the April 15 episode of the “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast, Marini explained that he was suffering through pain while dancing alongside Cheryl Burke each week.
“Rotator cuff gone, clavicle gone, the clavicle was snapped in half, and the AC joint was floating around my… And I did the entire season with that,” he admitted.
Marini and Burke finished the competition in second place; Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold won the Mirrorball Trophy that season.
Here’s what you need to know:
Gilles Marini Previously Opened Up About Injuries He Suffered on ‘Dancing With the Stars’
Despite suffering a number of injuries on season 8, Marini agreed to return to the show for its All-Stars season. Ahead of the competition, he told E! News about some of the things he’d been dealing with during his first go around.
“I pulled my groin the first week,” he told the outlet. “I got tendinitis here and there and I fractured my shoulder the first. I did it all and I’m going to do it again…I’ll do it to the death,” he added.
Interestingly, Marini went on to suffer more injuries on All-Stars. Before the show even started, he suffered an injury during rehearsals.
“I hurt something already. I think it’s the MCL. But who cares! I will still dance,” he said. He was partnered with Peta Murgatroyd and the two finished in 6th place, despite the physical setbacks.
Years later — in 2020 — Marini actually underwent surgery for one of the injuries that he sustained on the show.
“A lot of thought I was joking. No, no. It was bad. A lot of damage to my shoulder,” he told People magazine at the time. “I had an outpatient procedure and the surgeon discovered there was a lot more damage than what we originally thought,” he added.
Gilles Marini Had 4 Surgeries on His Face Before Joining ‘Dancing With the Stars’
Prior to doing “Dancing With the Stars,” Marini underwent four different face surgeries.
“Oh my gosh. You look exactly the same,” Burke told Marini on her podcast.
“Yeah, it’s surgery. It’s Hollywood, you know,” he responded.
Oh, you got all your whole face reconstruction right there,” Burke continued.
“To be super fair, yes, four times…Yeah, nobody knows that. And four times before I even met you,” he explained. The surgeries stemmed from injuries that Marini sustained doing martial arts.
Meanwhile, in 2015, Marini underwent hip surgery for another injury.
“2nd try for my hip #surgery. Hopefully this time the don’t F it up and cut my open for good.. Well this is gonna be a painful week but there is light at the end of the tunnel…I hope,” he captioned an Instagram post.
The following year, he went under the knife again for a different injury.
He took to Facebook to share that he was “again in the operating block. This time my neck.”
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