Entertainment TV Lisa Vanderpump Blogs About Fainting While Rehearsing the Cha Cha "I was exhausted and everything felt off," the Dancing contestant says of passing out By People Staff Published on April 8, 2013 09:30 AM Share Tweet Pin Email 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!