Witney Carson is sharing how Robert Irwin helped reignite her passion for Dancing With The Stars after a string of losses on the reality competition series.
Carson won her first Mirrorball Trophy in Season 19 in 2014 with Alfonso Ribeiro. It would take 11 years — and her partnership with Irwin — for her to finally earn her second in November.
During the Tuesday, Dec. 9 episode of the Viall Files podcast, the pro dancer opened up about doubting her abilities after losing 12 times after her first win.
“It meant the world to me to win, and not only because I feel like it’s been a really long time, like, all of my efforts for the last 10 years, just the loss after loss after loss, it can get really hard and really defeating,” Carson explained. “I felt like I was very defeated in the fact that, am I even supposed to be on this show? Am I even good? You kind of go back into those fears and those doubts of, I don’t even know, am I good anymore?”
“So the fact that I did win after all these years was just, it kind of gave me a confidence of, okay, I can do this. I’m meant to be here,” she continued. “Also just Robert being Robert, put back a lot of confidence back in myself that I think I lost for a while, and I think the season with Milo [Manheim], not getting that win was really hard on me, and I think, as much as I was passionate about each season, I felt like part of me was just doing it for the job as well.”
She added, “It was like, okay, this is a job. I lost a little bit, I feel like, of my — not drive — but maybe passion a little bit, like, where my passion stemmed from. So, I think that came back a little bit.”
Carson and Manheim placed 2nd on season 27 of DWTS — when Bobby Bones controversially won the show despite being considered one of the weakest dancers. This season was just one of Carson’s 7 finale appearances since her first win over a decade ago.
Carson’s husband, Carson McAllister, also shared what it was like to watch his wife chase her second Mirrorball — especially since he wasn’t there for her first win.
“It’s really interesting to see the struggle year after year after year. Each partner brings a different challenge. So to just watch and be helpless for 11 years, ’cause we got married right after she won, and then I was a big part of it, obviously,” he said. “I’ve been to the finale in the audience, hoping for that win, six or seven times.”
He also reflected on watching his wife win while in the audience with their two sons — Leo, 4, and Jet, 2.
“You might have seen the video where me and the boys are reacting when they announce it. That was like 11 years of just pent up waiting,” he continued. “I’ve been waiting to celebrate that moment because it’s really, I mean, great seasons happen, but the win is, like, okay, that was next level.”
Shortly before the Dancing With The Stars finale, Ribeiro said he felt Irwin played a big part in bringing Carson’s spark back.
“What I am able to look at is her brilliance on the floor. She’s able to create weekly with her contestants. You know, sometimes it’s a battle for her, sometimes it’s easy,” Ribeiro explained at the time. “Milo, with her, was the season that she should have gotten her second [win].”
“They were incredible together,” he continued. “I’m saying something that I’ve never really said to her, but I believe that season broke her slightly. Because I believe that, like, she put everything into that season and was still so young, that to have not come home with the win, created different emotions in her and a bit of separation between herself, the pro, and the show. Her celebrity and the show, right?”
He added, “It’s coming back with Robert. And I’m watching her give in a different way that she’s done over the last several years of herself and open up and allow people in.”
The Nov. 25 DWTS finale marked Carson’s 8th appearance in the finals. She has placed 1st twice, 2nd twice, and 3rd twice.
