Kaitlyn Bristowe Is ‘Still Suffering’ From Cracked Ribs After DWTS Injury

Kaitlyn Bristow says she’s still struggling with injuries from her mirrorball trophy-winning run with pro Artem Chigvintsev on Dancing with the Stars — but said being the 2020 season champ was “worth the injuries.”

“I’m still suffering years later from cracked ribs,” the Bachelor alum, 40, told Tori Spelling during a Sept. 10 appearance on her podcast, MisSpelling.

Spelling — who was voted off in her season of Dancing with the Stars — said, “I wish I had known you before because then I could have gotten some tips on what to do.”

Bristowe quipped, “I just would have said don’t injure yourself. That’s just — that was like my main focus, was to stop getting injured all the time.”

Although she said it was “worth the injuries,” Bristowe shared that, along with cracking her ribs, she pulled a muscle under her ribs. And, she added, “My tendonitis will flare up every time I wear heels now.”

But the lingering pain wouldn’t deter her from a return stint on the show, she said: “I’m like, I’ll do it again.”

Spelling said she didn’t know the potential for injury before joining the show.

“Those are things they do not tell you when they’re like, ‘You should sign on. And, like, you can do as much training as you want, as little training as you want, you know, whatever makes you comfortable,’ “ Spelling said.

Bristowe went on to share that she confronted her friend Hannah Brown who had won the previous year, in 2019, about the toll the show takes on your body: “I was like, ‘Why did you not prepare me?’ And she was like, ‘I don’t think people should prepare them because then they won’t do it.’ “

Brown did send Bristowe “a foot massage bath thing that I just, like, would soak my feet in,” sharing that Brown told her “It’’s so worth it, but, like, it would be scary to know how much work and, like, injury you go through to get to the end.” 

Spelling shared that, even in her limited time on the show, she got hurt. “I was voted off first, and I had pulled out my shoulder already,” Spelling said. “No one knew.”

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