"DWTS" Rehearsal with James Hinchcliffe & Sharna Burgess

Okay, so you're over here, I'm going to get you on this side of me like this. So I'm going to do this, I'm going to bend you over my leg. And again, your head goes back, leg goes up. Ready? Three, two

What's up, guys? Leslie Robbins here for Young Hollywood, hanging with one of the stars of Dancing with the Stars. Now, we're outside a dance studio. Do you come here often?

I have been frequenting here a little more often than maybe I had in the first 29 years of my life. But this is one of the studios that we come to regularly here on Third Street.

Cheated you out of your step again.

A little bit. That's just saying we get on your phone. No.

I was like All right, so we're going to do a little behind the scenes. You're going to show me around your studio?

I'm going to show you a little bit of what a day in the life of a Dancing with the Stars contestant is like. Come on in to my home away from home, Studio A. This is affectionately known. As you can see, Miss Sharna Burgess.

Can I give you a hug?

Of course you can. Oh, this Indy car driver. Into a dancer. Almost. Let's just hit into eight and just that position. Let's get that nice promenod position because it's our first one. He surprises me every day with what he's capable of. I mean, you already know that he's such a hard worker. Okay, now there it is. This and this. And beautiful. That stretch you just gave yourself on the end of it changed everything. It's not easy to be an athlete at the top level, no matter what your sport is. You've got to put in hours in the gym, hours studying what you do, how to be better. And that's essentially what serves you really well in this competition. And these stay low. Yes. Good. Good, good, good.

So how are you so good at something that you know so little about?

I got a really good teacher.

Is it that simple?

Is it that simple? You know, there's so many things go into the success of a couple on Dancing with the Stars. But one of them is chemistry and being able to work really well with each other. James and I work unbelievably well with each other. Good, good balance. Balance. We laugh with all the time, but we also work really hard when we get in this room. One, two, three, four. Remember this is a small step and you're curving me around. You're giving me a really big fire right now. I'm struggling to get around you.

Yeah, you're the pivot point on the outside.

And one, two, three, four and five, six, seven, eight. One. You know, something that could be an asset for what he does is that he's so in tune with his machine. He's balancing that car on the road. He has to feel it react with it. It's different every single time. So by dancing with me, it's kind of the same thing. He's so in tune with going with my body movement and my timing, my direction that it makes him very easy to dance with. Yes, I am a good teacher and a good choreographer, but he's also an amazing student, so it's a teamwork thing.

Now you have huge shoes to fill. Elio. Who just won. He just showed up and he's won the thing all willy-nilly. He showed me his hip thing once upon a time. He's got good hips.

He does.

But you've gotten a ten already? Congratulations.

Thank you.

You've got hips. Come on.

I don't I mean, we had to do a little bit of the hip stuff. You don't even try. Now. Right? So we did some hips in the cha-cha. We had to had to loosen these things up and get them moving a bit.

Okay, the last time I saw you was in April 2013. You're awesome. Let me put on your fire suit. But a lot's happened since then. You had an epic, epic crash that nearly sidelined you forever. And this was another scary crash at the speedway today during practice this afternoon. Significant injury to his upper thigh. Then he flipped, lost control of his car in a horrible crash this afternoon. Outside wall in turn three had to be rushed to the hospital. What made you jump back into something risky or what makes you keep going?

That's just the competitor in me. You know, I think any driver in my position would have done the exact same thing. I've joked about it a lot. I think racing drivers are inherently wired wrong. We're wired differently from normal people. And and we we lack that self-preservation gene. You know, you have this machine that almost killed you, and as soon as you wake up, the first thing you want to know is when can I get back in? It's just it's just how we're built.

And are your legs all back to normal?

They're 100%. I mean, good good enough to dance. Good enough to do that quick step last week. You got a ten. There you go.

What can I teach you a little move? It's like the Dancing with the Stars token move. It's how most people finish their numbers, the dip. So this is a dip that's actually in our dance.

Okay, so you're over here. I'm going to get you on this side of me like this. Yep. Right, perfect. So I'm going to do this. I'm going to bend you over my leg. And again, your head goes back, leg goes up. Ready? Three, two, one.