“I think my pupils have turned black.”

Dancing with the stars Season 30 took place during the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, causing enormous unforeseen stress for participants. But that wasn’t Cody Rigsby’s biggest worry: it was his partner.

The physical trainer joined his former dance buddy Cheryl Burke on a recent episode of her Sex, lies and spray tans podcast, where he discussed a tense moment they shared in the semifinals. “As soon as we went up for the Argentine tango, I was holding this pose and I was shaking like a tree, just like, I was shaking, I was shaking… And then of course, I went for like a count of eight earlier.”

“I think my pupils turned black,” Burke joked.

“You became a demon, but in the best way possible,” Rigsby continued. “I turned to you. And then our faces meet and you actually look me in the eyes, you say, ‘Don’t move.’ I was like, “Okay, okay, I got this!” And then you took us back to where we needed to be by striking a pose.”

Despite this mistake, Burke and Rigsby survived the semifinals and ultimately placed third. JoJo Siwa And Jenna Johnsonand the winners Iman Shumpert And Daniella Karagach.

In addition to the pressure of the disco ball trophy being within reach and competitors and judges dropping out left and right after contracting the coronavirus, Rigsby explained that he felt doomed on semi-final night even before to take your first step. “It was the semifinals and we had already done salsa and I missed a pass over your head,” Rigsby said, referring to their first dance of the night, salsa. “I missed the pass over your head, and so I felt like I screwed up that dance and I couldn’t let that go. I couldn’t let that go, you know, because ‘There’s like, 45 minutes between each dance? Like you’re doing a dance and you don’t have time to put it down.’

That’s why Rigsby shook like a tree and missed the first eight count of the Argentine tango, activating Burke’s demon.

Related: See each Dancing with the stars season 33 elimination

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Burke was perhaps the biggest pressure on Rigsby. Earlier in their conversation, Burke apologized “for my personality at that time and my attitude, because it had nothing to do with you.”

She told Rigsby that she was “in a different time at that point…I don’t know if it was also the longevity that I experienced on the show, but it was different. You got saw a whole different side of me than no. I didn’t know I had that in me too, because I was going through a breakup. There were a lot of things I discovered literally days before I met you.

Burke filed for divorce of my then husband Matthew Laurent just three months after the season 30 finale. After season 31, she left the series.

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At one point, Rigsby explained that he had contracted COVID, which led him to think, “Maybe I should just quit.” And you were like, “No, this might be one of my last seasons.” Stop.”

Burke participated in 26 seasons of Dancing with the starswinning his first two seasons and placing in the top three six more times. You can watch new episodes of DWTS season 33 Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+, and listen to the rest of Burke’s conversation with Rigsby below.