‘Dancing With the Stars’ Alum Derek Hough Details Health Scare, Dances for Girlfriend Following Emergency Appendix Surgery

Former Dancing With The Stars pro Derek Hough is back on his feet and dancing, just hours after he had an unexpected medical emergency. The two-time Emmy winner and six-time Mirrorball Trophy champion needed surgery for acute appendicitis on Saturday, and revealed more details about the issues on Instagram. He also shared a video showing himself doing a “sexy” dance for girlfriend Hayley Erbert.

“Woke up at 3am with a severe and a sharp pain in my abdomen. Knew something wasn’t right. Turned out it was appendicitis and had surgery to remove my appendix straight away,” Hough wrote on Instagram Saturday. “This is me immediately after, still a little(a lot) medicated, giving [Hayley] a (sexy) little dance.”

The World of Dance judge, 34, included an exchange between himself and Erbert.

“Me: Is this doing it for you babe?”

“Hayley: So hot.”

“Thank you for lying to me babe,” Hough added.

“I don’t know anyone that would be sexier than you in a hospital gown and blood clot socks,” Ebert commented on the video.

Hough also shared a series of clips from his hospital bed on Instagram Saturday, explaining that he had just come back from South Korea when “my stomach started hurting really bad.” The pain got “progressively worse and worse and worse,” but he still tried to go to sleep. When he woke up, he felt a “severe pain in my stomach” and it became clear the pain was coming from his lower abdomen. He realized he might be having an issue with his appendix, so he worke up Erbert to take him to the hospital.

“By the way, I could barely walk,” he told fans, reports PEOPLE. “I was king of crawling around the floor hunched over in pain. So Hayley drove me to the hospital and anyways, long story short, it’s acute appendicitis and I’m about to have surgery.”

Erbert and Hough spent several days in South Korea, with Hough sharing beautiful fall photos from Seoul on Nov. 14.

“The Autumn leaves… give me a huge sense of nostalgia. Reminding me of my childhood. Playing outside. Nose running, heart filled with excitement,” he wrote. “The cold crisp air, the vibrant collage of colors, engulfing me with a sense of change and transformation. There is beauty in death and a necessity in creating new life. Also, they Purdy.”

Hough has two Emmys for Outstanding Choreography on Dancing With The Stars in 2013 and 2016. Although he left the series after Season 23, he still holds the record for most Mirrorball wins, having won the show with Brooke Burke, Nicole Scherzinger, Jennifer Grey, Kellie Pickler, Amber Riley and Bindi Irwin. Hough’s sister, Julianne Hough, is a two-time Mirrorball winner and is now a judge on America’s Got Talent.

The Hough siblings will headline Holidays with the Houghs, a new NBC holiday special that will debut on Monday, Dec. 16 at 10 p.m. ET. The special will air again on Dec. 23 at 8 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic/Getty Images