"I never thought I was winning": Whitney Leavitt opens up about her Dancing with the Stars semi-final exit

Whitney Leavitt says she walked into Dancing with the Stars knowing exactly how far she would go, and it wasn’t to the end.

The Season 34 semi-finalist reflected on her exit days later, explaining that her expectations for the show were never wrapped in victory. 

They were rooted, instead, in experience. On the Call Her Daddy podcast, Leavitt said, 

“I’m gonna be honest with you. I never thought I was winning Dancing with the Stars … I really didn’t.”

Her partner Mark Ballas agreed immediately, saying, 

“We really knew that, we knew that.”

Inside Dancing with the Stars Season 34: The climb, the fall, and the truth Whitney carried

From the start of Dancing with the Stars Season 34, Whitney and Ballas performed with a steadiness that made them early standouts.

They remained near the top of the leaderboard throughout, delivering dances that judges routinely praised. But even while the scores stacked up, Leavitt said she never recalibrated her expectations.

“I wanted that experience,” she explained. “We knew that from the beginning. I would hope that anyone that had a dream or something that they want in their life or experience that they want, that they would go after it.”

Their departure, coming after one of their strongest nights, reopened a familiar conversation about how Dancing with the Stars balances its two pillars: judges’ scores and viewer votes.

In her interview, Leavitt acknowledged that the fan vote may have been swayed by her appearance on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, particularly its polarizing third season.

“It was such a huge divide. Like, you either really loved me for that or you really hated me for that,” she said. “So, maybe it swayed some people," she said.

Ballas, however, refused to pin their exit on the show’s off-screen stories. He said, 

“I think with such a stacked cast and really great talent, great talent all around, you get to the point where we don’t know the votes.” 

The night of their elimination made the emotional toll clear. She compared it to a breakup, which is also reflected in one of her more personal social posts where she addressed the melancholy she felt after the show was over. 

Yet she refused to let disappointment overshadow gratitude. She said, 

“I wanted to give it my all every single dance,” she said. “There’s just some things that are out of your control, but I’m gonna leave just knowing that I gave it my all.”

She later added, 

“I already feel like a winner. This show has meant the absolute world for me. It’s changed my life, and I’ll forever be so grateful to have this experience.”

Her partner echoed the sentiment, saying, 

“I had the best time. I love this show.”

For all the speculation around their exit, Leavitt was also clear that she took nothing for granted.

Even before the season began, she admitted she feared a negative reputation from her other reality-TV ventures might follow her into the ballroom. 

“I never thought I was winning Dancing with the Stars,” she repeated on the podcast. 

For Leavitt, the ending of her run didn’t dim the journey. If anything, it carved out something deeper.

In the days following her exit, she emphasized that the show allowed her to confront both criticism and expectation while rediscovering what she called a “lost dream.”

In words that echoed long after the finale, she affirmed: 

“I wouldn’t have changed a single thing.”

Stay tuned for more updates.