Lisa Vanderpump Blogs About Fainting While Rehearsing the Cha Cha

"I was exhausted and everything felt off," the Dancing contestant says of passing out

Photo: Craig Sjodin/ABC

Lisa Vanderpump is a restaurateur, designer, author, philanthropist and star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. She’s competing on season 16 of Dancing with the Stars with new pro Gleb Savchenko – and blogging about it on PEOPLE.com

This started off as an incredible week! I loved our waltz from last week‘s Dancing with the Stars. The whole performance felt very old Hollywood. It was a magical night.

The rest of my week, however, was rather trying because I had to take off to New York for work Tuesday right after the elimination show. That night I took a red eye flight at 11 p.m., arriving in New York at 6 a.m. and heading straight to six hours of rehearsals upon landing.

After rehearsals, I ran back to my hotel for a quick change and headed to the Bravo Upfronts party, which wasn’t over until around 11 p.m. Then I had a light dinner and drink, and went to bed.

After a few hours of sleep, I was up bright and early at 6 a.m. to prepare to dance with my partner Gleb on Live with Kelly and Michael. We were performing an encore of the Viennese waltz, which I ended up doing barefoot! Then off we went to six hours of rehearsals again before catching a flight back to L.A. that evening.

By the time Thursday rehearsals rolled around – let’s just say I was exhausted and everything felt off. Gleb and I were rehearsing our cha cha and suddenly I just blacked out.

I was in shock when I woke up. I fainted only once before in my life. The doctor found that I had a viral infection with fever and swollen glands. And between trying to fight that and all of the stress on my body from running around, I ended up with low blood pressure and a rapid heart rate, which is why I fainted.

I am still fighting the bug and feeling under the weather but I am staying in the game as long as they say I can. And I will give it my best!

The cha cha is a very difficult dance but this is a style of dance, which Gleb excels and I want to make him proud. Wish us luck! As always, we will need it!