Top 9 “American Idol” contestant David Cook was rushed to the hospital with heart palpitations and dangerously high blood pressure after his performance on the show yesterday.

Cook has been lauded by judges for his risk-taking and strong performances, and performed his own arrangement of Dolly Parton’s “Little Sparrow” last night. Dolly Parton praised his voice and talent during rehearsals.

Cook really nailed the performance and looked at ease on stage. All the judges praised him, with Simon tempering it a little by saying it wasn’t as good as his last performance. Cook was taken to the hospital shortly after the show. He has high blood pressure and the stress sent it skyrocketing. Cook was treated by a private physician, given blood pressure medication and released.

Cook’s brother has cancer and suffered a medical setback recently, and that is said to have contributed to his high level of stress. Hopefully he’s ok now and will be able to find ways to keep his blood pressure down.

Meanwhile dancer Derek Hough, Shannon Elizabeth’s professional partner on “Dancing With The Stars” wrenched his neck during rehearsals yesterday and was taken to the hospital. He recovered, and was back to work.

It’s not an easy job having to preform new material in front of millions of people every week.

Here’s David Cook performing “Little Sparrow” last night. You would never know he was having a problem, and maybe he felt ok until after his performance:

And here’s Derek Hough doing the jive with Shannon Elizabeth on Monday. You can see how he might throw something out with all those moves he’s doing.