I Actually Can’t Believe the Whitney Leavitt News

Something I’ve yet to reveal on Jezebel dot com is that—much to my own surprise—I’m a massive The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives fan. I have no issue with reality television, but outside of Real Housewives of New York City and MTV’s Are You the One (the best reality dating show of all time, to be clear), nothing has ever really hooked me. But two episodes into the first season of Mormon Wives in September 2024, and I was hooked like fat sunfish in a shallow pond.

I love Taylor Frankie Paul! I love Mayci Neely! I don’t love Whitney Leavitt! And yet…Leavitt’s run on Dancing With the Stars marked the first time I ever, ever, tuned into the show. And for the last 10 weeks, she completely won me over with her talent, stage presence, and TikToks with Mark Ballas. I am not a betting woman, but I would have confidently and hypothetically placed a hefty bet on her winning the mirror ball. I wanted her to win the mirror ball.

So imagine my surprise Tuesday night when I felt…bummed? Angry? Devasted??? to see Leavitt eliminated one week before the finals. And I’m still not totally convinced this wasn’t part of some bigger Whitney Leavitt–hater conspiracy theory.

The third season of Mormon Wives premiered on Friday, and in it, Leavitt revealed she only returned to filming because she had the opportunity to audition for DWTS. For some reason, a lot of fans found an issue with this. God forbid a girl take advantage of all the opportunities in front of her. I don’t know how organized the Whitney Leavitt haters are, but there was definitely a lot of chatter in the comments section of a lot of TikToks about making sure she was sent home this week.

Personally, I still find Leavitt unbearable on Mormon Wives, but that doesn’t take away from her being phenomenal on DWTS. If her elimination really was the product of some underground coordinated effort, then the haters just robbed us of another week of Leavitt-and-Ballas excellence—for no other reason than that they don’t know how to stop being a hater. And if it is just a coincidence, then…damn, I remained shocked at how bummed I am.

“We had a gut feeling it was us,” Leavitt told E! News afterward, with Ballas echoing, “We knew, we felt it. I think we just had a feeling.” Ugh. Although it’s kind of poetic that, of their two dances Tuesday night—a cha cha to Prince’s “1999” and Viennese waltz to Prince’s “Slow Love”—the former has the lyric, “But life is just a party/And parties weren’t meant to last.” Le sigh.

As I said, I’m new to DWTS, but is there any type of reunion special where they can dance again? An anniversary show? A tour? Can they keep making TikToks? Can Leavitt get her own Mormon Wives spin-off where she moves to Hollywood to dance??? I am willing to tune into anything at this point.

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