ABC/Craig SjodinLando Calrissian has left the ballroom.
On Monday night's episode, Dancing With the Stars fans were given their first surprise of the season when Star Wars' Billy Dee Williams announced he was withdrawing the competition due to his chronic back pain. "I've had a wonderful, brilliant, fantastic blast of a time," Williams said on the ABC reality hit, thanking his professional partner Emma Slater as well.
And E! News chatted with Williams, 77, and Slater backstage after the show, where they opened about making the "tough" decision to leave the competition...
When we asked how he was feeling, Williams admitted, "My back is killing me right now."
Williams and Slater chose to leave DWTS after his doctor recommended resting his back in order to prevent further injury.
"He just said, ‘Look, if you want to continue doing this, it's up to you, but my advice is just to relax this back now,'" Williams explained. "It's chronic, it's arthritic. I made a tough choice, but it was a choice I think I needed to make."
Unfortunately for Slater, their decision to leave the competition makes her ineligible for the upcoming Switch Up twist, which will change up the pairings on next Monday's show. But Slater isn't too upset over not taking part in the first-ever Switch Up.
"I won't be involved in the swap, which is disappointing, but at the same time, this was an easy decision to make in my opinion because it's the right thing to do," she told us. "We sort of made peace with it straight away because there's no contest: if it's to do with his health than we call it a day and say job well done. I'm really proud of him."
And despite his injury, Williams has no regrets about his time on DWTS, saying, "It was fantastic!"
Were you sad to see Williams leave the show? Sound off in the comments!