A married couple who once competed against each other on “Dancing With the Stars” say their professional partners for the show, Witney Carson and Mark Ballas, were barely on speaking terms during production of Season 21 in 2015.
Alexa and Carlos PenaVega, who made history as the first and only married pair to go head-to-head on the competition, discussed the alleged rift on Thursday’s episode of their podcast, “LexLos.”
“At the time, Witney and Mark were not getting along at all. They refused to be in the same room together,” Alexa PenaVega, 38, said on the show.
The actress, known for her role in “Spy Kids,” said the tension between the two pros complicated what she and her husband had hoped would be a shared experience.
“The whole point of doing the show was, ‘We’re going to go in, and we’re going to do this together as much as possible.’ And the second we go in, boom, Mark and Witney refused to be in a room together,” Alexa said.
She added that the couple had expected to rehearse together but instead found themselves having to work around the pros’ dynamic. “We thought we were going to be rehearsing in the same room, and now we have to be so separate. We have to dance around whatever’s going on with them,” she said.
Page Six reported that it reached out to representatives for Carson, Ballas and “Dancing With the Stars” for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Despite the alleged friction between their partners, both PenaVegas said they enjoyed their time on the show. Carlos PenaVega, 37, the Big Time Rush singer, said he and Carson, 33, “had so much fun” during the season, though he noted he went into the competition wanting to win — a goal he said Ballas, 40, shared for his own partnership.
“He’s very creative, and he wants to do things outside the box, which require a lot of work,” Carlos said of Ballas. “Listen, I had a great work ethic with Witney. She put up with a lot ’cause it was really hard, but we had a lot of fun.”
Alexa, who was partnered with Ballas, also said she enjoyed the experience, though she acknowledged her husband picked up choreography far more quickly than she did.
“When it comes to dance, you pick things up so easily. Like, Carlos, they would teach him something, and he would know it immediately,” she said. “He would learn a dance, and it would be so good right away. And even if he messed up, you would never know he messed up.”
“Meanwhile, it took me forever,” she continued. “Mark would teach me something, and I’d be like, ‘All right, got it.’ I would have it, and then an hour later, I’d be like, ‘I actually don’t remember any of that.'”
Alexa and Ballas finished sixth that season, while Carlos and Carson advanced to the finale, placing fourth behind winners Bindi Irwin and Derek Hough.
Both Carson and Ballas have continued dancing professionally on the show since then, and both returned for Season 35. Carson, who won Season 34 with partner Robert Irwin, was eliminated this season alongside partner Guillermo Rodriguez during “Super Bowl Night.” Ballas, paired with Maura Higgins, remains in contention for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.
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