The Sad Reason You Won't See Peta On 'DWTS'

By now, you've probably heard that Dancing with the Stars pro Peta Murgatroyd has unfortunately been sidelined for the show's 21st season. Tragic, right? In late August, Murgatroyd (who's been a member of the show's professional cast since Season 14), announced that she's taking her first break from the show. Why this season, though? Well, as it would turn out, she suffered a serious ankle injury in the eleventh hour.

After enjoying a successful summer tour with Dancing with the Stars: Live!, she returned to the practice rooms to begin choreography and rehearsals with Season 21 star Andy Grammer. Unfortunately, she quickly realized her ankle was acting up — as she told People, "something was not right." She went on to elaborate that the injury is pretty serious; an MRI revealed "four torn ligaments and a floating piece of bone at the back of [her] ankle." Oh, and here's the kicker: The injury required surgery — surgery that happens to come along with a six-eight week recovery time, effectively sidelining Peta for the lion's share of Season 21. Ouch.

It's not all bad news, though — according to her Instagram account, Peta's already started the recovery process for her injury:

She also revealed via Instagram that she's raring to get back to the ballroom — as soon as her ankle allows, she plans to return for group numbers, as well as to cheer on Andy (who will now be partnered with DWTS pro Allison Holker). Heck, as Len Goodman's decided to make his exit this season, I'd love to see Peta come on and guest judge an episode or two.

Plus, even if she has to wait a couple months for her ankle to heal, at least she has someone to help nurse her back to health: As it would turn out, things are also going quite well on the romantic front — Maksyl 'shippers will be quite disappointed to find out that Peta and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are back together again. He rather adorably told People, "Everything's amazing ... she's awesome". Who knows? Maybe they'll even get married during her hiatus!