Trebunskaya replaces Schwimmer on 'DWTS'

Published Monday, Nov 2 2009, 20:08 GMT | By Lara Martin

Trebunskaya replaces Schwimmer on 'DWTS'

ABC

Anna Trebunskaya will reportedly replace Lacey Schwimmer in tonight's instalment of Dancing With The Stars.

According to People, the professional dancer was called on as a last minute replacement for Schwimmer after the latter fell ill with the flu.

Trebunskaya will partner Iron Chef America's Mark Dacascos.

"I have total faith in Anna. I know she and Mark will have perfect chemistry and hopefully I'll feel well enough to cheer them on backstage," said Schwimmer.

Trebunskaya explained that she was initially only supposed to help Dacascos in rehearsals but Schwimmer, who became ill while working in New York with Dacascos last week, then "got really sick".

She added: "[Filling in] has definitely been a challenge. We rehearsed 12 hours Saturday and again Sunday."

Trebunskaya, who left the competition with partner Chuck Liddell last month, is not the first professional dancer who has been called in as a replacement this season. Last month, Maksim Chmerkovskiy stood in for Derek Hough under similar circumstances.

Dancing With The Stars airs tonight on ABC.