Backstage: Cody and Julianne's Tearful Goodbye

• Nov 19, 2008 11:19 AM ET
• by Deborah Starr Seibel

Julianne Hough and Cody Linley, Dancing with the Stars

She may act like Wonder Woman — returning to the dance floor only two weeks after abdominal surgery to remove her appendix and scar tissue from endometriosis — but it turns out Dancing with the Stars pro Julianne Hough is flesh and blood after all: She had a small scare on Monday night, dancing her last two competitive dances (the paso doble and the salsa) with Hannah Montana star Cody Linley.

"I felt a little weird last night," says Hough, moments after she and Linley were eliminated from the competition. "I almost thought it was a hernia, but it's not. It's just the incisions down there were sore."

Linley is suffering a different sort of pain: the anticipation of separation-anxiety from his beloved dance teacher. "If you would've told me at the beginning, when I first started this competition, that I was going to be crying about a dance reality show, I would've said, 'Yeah, right.' I would've been beaten up by my brothers for that. But it's been such a roller coaster — and such a gift."

Linley, the youngest competitor ever — he turns 19 on Thursday — is also the only Dancing star who has had to switch partners mid-stream. He danced with pro Edyta Sliwinska while Hough was recovering from surgery, and the resulting strain is what viewers saw on television when Linley started crying in therapist Dr. Drew's office. "When I saw it on TV, it was something that I was expecting to go, ewwwww..." says Linley. "But it made me think of that time [when Hough was going through surgery] and it moved me. I did get a little teary-eyed, and it's okay."  

Says Hough, "From Day 1, I was like, 'Okay, here's this 18-year-old kid. This is going to be fun.' And then I just realized that he has so much more going for him. He's very caring and very deep. I'm so proud of him and what he accomplished."

Read Mickey's recap of Tuesday's results show here.

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