Witney Carson and Mark Ballas refused ‘to be in the same room’ during “DWTS” season 21 feud, PenaVegas claim

Kathleen PerriconeSat, October 24, 2026 at 12:43 AM UTC

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Mark Ballas; Witney CarsonCredit: Andrew Eccles/Disney(2)Key Points -

Witney Carson and Mark Ballas refused “to be in the same room” during season 21 of DWTS, according to Carlos and Alexa PenaVega.

“Witney and Mark were not getting along at all,” says the Spy Kids star, who was paired with Ballas in 2015.

The pro dancers had been close until at least 2014, and rumors swirled over the past decade.

After dancing around the rumors for a decade, the feud between Witney Carson and Mark Ballas was just confirmed.

The Dancing With the Stars pros were once quite close — he even planned her 21st birthday party in 2014 — but the relationship lost its footing by the following year, according to Carlos and Alexa PenaVega. The couple competed on season 21, paired with Carson and Ballas, respectively, and got a front row seat to all the behind-the-scenes drama.

“At the time, Witney and Mark were not getting along at all,” Alexa revealed on LexLos, her podcast with Carlos, while discussing their own personal difficulties as a husband and wife competing on the show. “So they refused to be in the same room together, and that was really hard because we’re married and the whole point [of being on DWTS] was we’re gonna do this together as much as possible. And the second we go in, boom, Mark and Witney refuse to be in a room together.”

Witney Carson appeared as a guest judge on ‘Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro’ with Mark BallasCredit: Vince Valitutti/Disney

“Yeah it was hard,” agreed Carlos, who made it to 4th place with Carson.

“We thought we’d be rehearsing in the same room and now we have to be so separate,” recalled Alexa, despite the fact her husband was her competition on the show. “We have to dance around whatever’s going on with them.”

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Carson and Ballas for comment.

Tension aside, both Carlos and Alexa said they had “so much fun” working with Carson and Ballas on DWTS. The professionals were also sympathetic to the young newlyweds’ concerns about dancing suggestively with someone other than their spouse.

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The PenaVegas “were very clear” on their boundaries going into the competition, explained the Spy Kids actress. “We had such incredible respectful partners, we really really did.”

DWTS fans have speculated for well over a decade about the relationship between Ballas and Carson.

The So You Think You Can Dance alum joined the ABC series in 2013 and forged a close friendship with Ballas, who cast Carson in the music video for his song, “Get My Name Back,” in May 2014.

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Months later on Carson’s 21st birthday, the two posed cheek to cheek in a snapshot shared by fellow DWTS pro Jenna Johnson. “@MarkBallas you should be a professional birthday planner because this weekend has been epic!!” Johnson captioned the Instagram post.

The following year, Carson announced her engagement to her high school sweetheart in October 2015. The couple married on Dec. 31, and weeks later in January 2016, Ballas told PEOPLE had had proposed to his own longtime love, BC Jean, on Thanksgiving.

on Entertainment Weekly

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”