Mark Ballas & Witney Carson ‘Refused to Be in the Same Room’ on ‘DWTS’ Season 21

Alexa PenaVega and Carlos PenaVega discussed the difficulties of competing on the same season of Dancing With the Stars on their podcast, while also giving some insight into a feud between pro dancers on the show that some fans may not have been privy to.

The married couple was partnered with Mark Ballas and Witney Carson, respectively, and Alexa recalled how tension between the dancers made things a little awkward.

“There’s a lot of drama behind the scenes,” she explained. “At the time, Witney and Mark were not getting along at all, so they refused to be in the same room together. And that was really hard because we’re married, and the whole point that we were 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.”

Carlos and Alexa were on Season 21 of the show in the fall of 2015. One year earlier, Ballas and Carson had DWTS fans buzzing when they shared a kiss during a pro dance on Season 19 (video above). She also starred in one of his music videos around that same time.

In October 2015, amid Season 21, Carson got engaged to her high school sweetheart, Carson McAllister, whom she’s still married to today. The month after McAllister popped the question, Ballas proposed to now-wife BC Jean.

While the PenaVegas didn’t specify what caused the tension between Ballas and Carson, it’s a lore that DWTS fans have talked about for years. Many have also called out “awkwardness” between the pros in Carlos and Alexa’s DWTS intro package, which featured Carson and Ballas both arriving at the couple’s home for their first meetings. The two also do not follow each other on Instagram.

Related

'DWTS': Alan Explains Val's Involvement Amid Suspension

Regardless of what happened back in the day, Ballas and Carson have remained professional and both continue to work on Dancing With the Stars. Ballas is currently still in the running for the Season 35 Mirrorball with Maura Higgins, while Carson and Guillermo Rodriguez were eliminated on October 13.

Dancing With the Stars, Season 35, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC and Disney+