Whitney Leavitt Says Her Shocking DWTS Elimination Didn't Surprise Her
The Mormon Wives star had a “gut feeling.”
Whitney Leavitt has made it very clear how badly she wanted to be a part of Dancing with the Stars Season 34. But despite consistently high scores and a solid frontrunner status, the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star was unexpectedly booted from the competition ahead of the finals. It was perhaps the most shocking elimination of the season for viewers — but Leavitt herself was not surprised.
Most fans of the show had assumed Leavitt and her partner Mark Ballas were a shoo-in for the Season 34 finals, after the duo had been awarded the highest score for seven out of the first nine weeks. Even on Nov. 18’s Prince-themed episode, the pair scored a respectable 58 out of 60, seemingly enough to allow them to sail into the finals. But instead, the night ended with Leavitt and Ballas getting sent home after America’s vote.
Surprisingly, the two frontrunners revealed that they had already predicted being eliminated that night. “We knew, we felt it. I think we just had a feeling,” Ballas told E!. “We had a gut feeling it was us,” Leavitt added.
Although Leavitt said she could see the elimination coming, that didn’t make it any less heartbreaking. “It’s sad, it does feel like a breakup because you build long-lasting friendships here,” she said. “You spend so much time with these people every single day, so it does feel like a breakup. It’s like I’m sad, but also I’m leaving with just a grateful heart, to have been able to experience it.”
The elimination took place in the first DWTS episode to air after the third season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives dropped on Nov. 13. A large focus of that new season is Leavitt’s single-minded focus to get on Dancing with the Stars, admitting that the only reason she even filmed this third season was that it gave her a chance to audition for the dance competition series. This created tension with her castmates, who felt Leavitt’s motives were opportunistic.
Leavitt seemed to acknowledge that the timing of the Mormon Wives premiere may have affected the DWTS voting. “There’s just some things that are out of your control,” Leavitt said. “But I’m gonna leave just knowing that I gave it my all.”
