Yesterday, when I went to work I was so convinced that I was going to be leaving the show that I had my bag packed. But I can’t believe the unbelievable, extraordinary support from the fans and I am just so grateful. I’ve never been involved in anything remotely like this before and I’ve been having the best time of my life. I just want to tell everyone how grateful I am for letting me do at least another dance or two.

Last night I was bounding off to rehearsal, I couldn’t wait to be doing the show and I was in a really good mood. I was just thinking about how much I’ve learned from the judges, how much I’ve learned from being in this competition, how grateful I am to have been able to go as far as I had. Then I got the most terrible stomach pains, stomach cramps. I tried everything to get better. I took all the over the counter things. I had very bad attack of food poisoning. I hated the fact something dramatic was happening and I hated the fact I couldn’t be on the show, but I literally couldn’t even sit up or stand up or do anything.

Last night has been pretty tough. I’ve had an enormous amount of pain, but it seems to have subsided now, so clearly it was an isolated incidence of food poisoning and everyone’s told me I am fine and nothing to worry about.

I am, as everyone was, completely stunned that Sabrina was voted off. I consider her to be an extraordinary dancer, a really lovely girl. I looked to her to learn about dance, to learn about so many things. But when I saw the way she handled her elimination, I realized that this is a young woman with extraordinary maturity, extraordinary poise. She handled the situation better than anyone I can ever imagine.

My heart goes out to her, what I do know for sure, in my heart, is that she is going to become a huge star and have a major fan base for the rest of her life because she is a very special young lady.