Conner Leavitt expected to be disappointed after becoming the first celebrity eliminated from Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars. Two days later, he said the part that stayed with him had less to do with his score or his salsa than with what people brought back up after he went home.
In a TikTok recorded while packing to leave Los Angeles, Leavitt said he felt embarrassed when people used the elimination to revisit his “past mistakes.” He stressed that the judges’ score, their criticism and viewers simply disliking the dance were not what bothered him.
Whitney Leavitt posted about the elimination on Instagram on September 16th. She told Conner she was proud that he had stepped far outside his comfort zone and urged him not to let the result take away from what he accomplished.
Conner and first-time pro Adele Zaikman were eliminated during the September 15th premiere after receiving 12 out of 30 for their salsa to Tag Team’s “Whoomp! (There It Is).” Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson received the night’s lowest judges’ score with a 10 but remained in the competition after the scores were combined with viewer text votes.
Conner Said the Embarrassment Was About His Past, Not the Dance
@conner.leavitt
Don’t be afraid to take a big swing when an opportunity comes your way!!
♬ original sound – Conner Leavitt
Leavitt filmed the video in his hotel while packing to go home two days after the elimination. “Obviously going home first was not how I wanted to end my time on Dancing With the Stars,” he said, while adding that he loved performing and was grateful to have Zaikman as his partner.
“I wasn’t embarrassed because of the judge’s score. I wasn’t embarrassed by the criticism. I wasn’t even embarrassed that some people didn’t like the dance,” Leavitt said. “I was embarrassed because I felt like people were throwing my past mistakes in my face.”
He said some viewers used the elimination as another opportunity to “poke fun” at him. Those past issues had already been discussed publicly on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
The Hulu series addressed Conner’s use of Tinder during his marriage and what Whitney described as his struggle with pornography. Conner acknowledged that his actions had hurt his wife and apologized, saying he was working on himself, as People reported after the episode.
“I don’t live there anymore,” Leavitt said.
He did not pretend that leaving first had been easy. Leavitt said he allowed himself to be disappointed and emotional after the elimination instead of rushing past how he felt.
Whitney Had Been Telling Him to Stay Present From the Beginning
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Whitney’s support began before Conner ever performed his first competitive dance. After the Season 35 cast was announced, Conner said his wife had repeatedly warned him how quickly the experience would pass and encouraged him to stay present rather than spend the entire run worrying about what came next.
“This experience goes by really fast,” Conner recalled Whitney telling him. “You need to be present and enjoy it, soak it up and learn everything you can.” She also told him that the relationships he built in the ballroom would become real friendships, even though the daily rehearsals and constant time together would eventually end.
“She warned me, ‘You’re going to have real relationships with these people, and you’re going to foster real friendships, and then it’s all going to end one day,’” Conner told Us Weekly before the premiere.
In her September 16th Instagram post, Whitney wrote, “Conner, I am so proud of you. I hope you never let this ending take away from what you just did.” She praised him for stepping outside his comfort zone and told him to keep saying yes to opportunities that scared him. Whitney also wrote that their children, Sedona, Liam and Billy, were proud of their father.
“This is just the beginning, babe,” she concluded.
Zaikman also praised her first celebrity partner after their exit. She joined the main Dancing With the Stars roster after winning Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro and called working with Leavitt a “dream come true no matter what.”
Conner and Adele Had the Second-Lowest Score of the Night
Leavitt and Zaikman’s salsa received four points from each of the three judges for a total of 12 out of 30. Carrie Ann Inaba praised his enthusiasm but called the performance “a bit chaotic.” Derek Hough described it as goofy, playful and fun but said he did not see enough salsa technique, particularly in Leavitt’s hip action.
Bruno Tonioli also criticized Leavitt’s timing. Only Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson finished below them on the judges’ leaderboard, receiving 10 out of 30 for their cha-cha.
The elimination was not based on judges’ scores alone. Those totals were combined with viewer voting, which was enough to keep Rodriguez and Carson in the competition and send Leavitt and Zaikman home. After his name was announced, Leavitt immediately praised his partner.
“This has been the most fun,” he said. “I have the greatest dance partner in the world in Adele. I can’t wait for the world to see her talent.”
ABC Threw Out Online Votes During the Season 35 Premiere
The elimination also happened during a premiere complicated by a technical failure in online voting. ABC’s voting website stopped working during the episode.
Julianne Hough first told viewers to vote by text while the website was down. Alfonso Ribeiro later announced that all online votes submitted that night would be discarded. Only text-message votes would be combined with the judges’ scores, according to People.
Leavitt declined to blame the technical problem. Speaking after the show, he noted that he is a “mathematician by trade” and said he did not believe the voting situation made the result unfair. “I don’t think there was any unfairness involved,” he said. “Everyone deserved to be here, it’s just a bummer that we had to go first.”
Zaikman said she was disappointed and naturally wanted to stay because she is competitive. Still, she acknowledged that somebody had to be eliminated.
Leavitt Says the Experience Left Him Less Afraid to Try Something New
Leavitt said Whitney stayed beside him while he dealt with the disappointment. He was grateful that he had allowed himself to be emotional rather than act as though the result had not hurt.
He also repeated a quote he likes: “Embarrassment is an under-explored emotion.” “It just proves that you put yourself out there,” Leavitt said. “You were vulnerable. You tried something new.” “I’m going home with an incredible experience,” he continued. “I’m going home with lessons learned, and I’m going home less afraid to try new things.”
Dancing With the Stars returns Tuesday, September 22nd at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+.