Whitney Leavitt isn’t feeling the love from Secret Lives of Mormon Wives costar Jen Affleck as her Dancing With the Stars journey continues.
“I mean, I’m just not trying to focus on that,” Leavitt, 32, exclusively told Us Weekly after the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night performances on Tuesday, November 4. “I’m just going to focus on the people that are supporting us because it means so much to Mark [Ballas] and I. It does motivate us and it means a lot to us.”
Both MomTok influencers were cast on season 34 of the ballroom dance competition, but Affleck, 26, was sent home during the October 28 episode with partner Jan Ravnik. She later hinted that Leavitt and Ballas, 39, might not have her full support throughout the remainder of the competition.
“We love Andy [Richter] and Robert [Irwin],” Affleck said during a TikTok Live after the Halloween Night episode. “Honestly, I’ve said since day one, ‘I’m on the show and I’m voting for Robert.’ He just has an amazing story.”
She continued, “I would be rooting for a former MomTok person, but we won’t get into it.”
According to Affleck, fans “will have to wait for season 3” of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to get the backstory on the apparent drama.
While Affleck is no longer in the running for the mirrorball trophy, Leavitt is still on a hot streak in the DWTS ballroom. She and Ballas wowed the judges — including special guest Flavor Flav — on Tuesday night with a paso doble to Ozzy Osbourne‘s “No More Tears,” coming just one point shy of a perfect score.
Flav’s enthusiasm brought a few surprises to the leaderboard, but Ballas appreciated the new perspective.
“When we have guest judges, we’ve had a variety of different kinds, right?” he told Us after the show. “Last week, we had Cheryl Burke, who is a 26-season veteran who has been in these shoes, who knows what she’s looking at. We’ve had Kym Johnson, same thing, a double champ, [with] expertise in this area. [She] knows what she’s doing.”
Ballas said having the former pros return was “fantastic,” but not everyone has that level of ballroom dance knowledge. “Sometimes we have guest judges that are not that, and we’ve had Michael Bublé, we’ve had Gene Simmons. That was a hot topic last year, I remember that,” he continued. “But when you have judges that aren’t ex pro dancers or not past celebrities, they’re just going to go off what they are feeling in the moment. Again, that’s out of our control.”
Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas are still hoping to find a way to thank their fans after being forced to pause their Dancing With the Stars giveaway plans. “It was a mishap,” Leavitt, 32, told Us Weekly exclusively after the ballroom competition’s Halloween Night episode on Tuesday, October 28. “[It’s] something we wanted to do […]
Leavitt and Ballas were ultimately saved from elimination, with Danielle Fishel and Pasha Pashkov sent home on Tuesday. Both couples — along with Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach, Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa and cohost Alfonso Ribeiro — were part of the winning team during the freestyle challenge.
“That really sucked,” Leavitt told Us of Fishel’s elimination. “Especially because I feel like Danielle really — specifically tonight — gave it her all. She took those corrections. She did that on the dance floor. Even in our team dance worked so hard. Yeah, it really sucked.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET, with new episodes streaming the next day on Hulu.
Prove your DWTS fandom with Us Weekly and Bracketology.tv! Compete against other fans and Us editors in the Bracketology DWTS fantasy league this season to predict which pairs will make it to the finale for season 34. Get access to exclusive content, stats and a chance to win prizes. Join the league for free today!
