DANCING with the Stars’ Whitney Leavitt was ‘furious’ that host Julianne Hough brought up ‘petty’ drama from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on live TV, The U.S. Sun can reveal.
During Tuesday night’s semifinals, Julianne said she had to “address the elephant in the room” with Whitney’s controversial comments she made on season 3 of the Hulu show.
Following Whitney’s first dance of the evening with her pro partner, Mark Ballas, the Utah influencer appeared taken aback when met with some shade from host Julianne.
“She didn’t appreciate Julianne calling her out on live TV, that was so awkward.
“Julianne didn’t need to bring up the Mormon Wives comments so she thought that was a petty move.
“She handled it as gracefully as she could but she knows she deserved to be in the finale talent-wise,” an insider told The U.S. Sun.
During Prince night on DWTS, Whitney, 32, and Mark did a Cha-Cha to his classic hit, 1999.
After receiving high praise from the judges on the ballroom floor, the duo headed up to the balcony to talk to Julianne before receiving their scores.
“Let’s just talk about the elephant in the room,” Julianne said – getting straight to the point.
“You said on the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives that the only reason you wanted to do that show is so you could do this show. Why do you want to be here so much?”
While Whitney seemed surprised by the question, she attempted to give a polite reply.
“After two seasons of doing the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, I wanted to take a break.
“But once I found out that this would be an opportunity for all the girls to go after this, I wanted to take that chance.
“I will forever be so grateful because this has changed my life. And I’m having the time of my life and I couldn’t be more grateful,” she confessed.
Despite earning top scores and high praise all season, Whitney and Mark were voted out of the competition on Tuesday – one week shy of the finals.
While many people were shocked that the frontrunner got cut, they revealed afterwards they had a “gut feeling” it’d be them going home.
“It’s sad, it does feel like a breakup because you build long-lasting friendships here with production, crew—obviously with Mark.
“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,” she said in an interview with E! News following the taping.
She added: “I wanted to give it my all every single dance.
“There’s just some things that are out of your control, but I’m gonna leave just knowing that I gave it my all.”
The three-hour finale of Dancing with the Stars airs on Tuesday, November 25th, on ABC.
