• The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt and her pro partner, Mark Ballas, were eliminated during Dancing Wth the Stars’ semifinals on Nov. 18.
  • The pair decided to premiere their final freestyle dance on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, where they also dished about their elimination.
  • DWTS judge Carrie Ann Inaba has weighed in on their final dance after fans accused her of playing favorites on the show.

Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas’ time on Dancing With the Stars may have ended during the semifinals, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t get one last dance in. The pair premiered their freestyle to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” mashed up with The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives theme song on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast on November 26, where they also got candid about their experience on the reality dance competition.

Mark commemorated the occasion with a series of behind-the-scenes photos and videos on Instagram, writing, in part, “@whitleavitt what a wild ride, thank you for all your hard work, grit, determination & many belly laughs we shared. I’m so proud of you & was so happy to share this experience with you. It’s funny that you got your start on a ‘reality show’ but I got to see & know the real you. Congrats on all the exciting things coming up for you and remember ‘just keep swimming.’”

While finalists are the only contestants to perform freestyle dances on DWTS, ABC reached out to Call Her Daddy to allow Whitney and Mark to share theirs after their shocking elimination on November 18.

Like any other DWTS performance, the judges weighed in—except, this time, it went down in the comments section of Mark’s Instagram post. After fans accused her of playing favorites throughout the season, Carrie Ann Inaba wrote a lengthy response to Mark and Whitney’s final dance (which was put together in 72 hours, according to Mark).

“This was absolute brilliance!! And you both delivered a powerful and much needed message,” Carrie Ann wrote. “You and Whitney are a creative match made in heaven and it was wonderful to see you—as a choreographer—never have to hold back in both your creativity and your performance. You gave Whitney the place to be her fullest self while leaping out into the unknown and it was healing to watch. This was sheer brilliance for so many reasons.”

She also acknowledged and apologized for the online hate they faced throughout the season, adding, “Usually it’s only me who gets the vitriol like that. It broke my heart to read some of the comments. When people kept saying there was favoritism, I got very upset because that diminishes what you both had worked so hard for.”

carrie ann inaba, derek hough, bruno tonioli, alfonso ribeiro, whitney leavitt, mark ballas
Eric McCandless//Getty Images

The longtime judge and choreographer continued, “I was sad you didn’t get to perform this at the finale, but I do think that doing it this way, ended up being even better. It had a different kind of impact. You do things your own way Mark, and I think this was the way it was meant to be.” She closed her message, writing, “Congratulations to you and @whitleavitt for turning the pain into art.”

Since her final dance, Whitney revealed that she’s following fellow DWTS contestant and reality TV personality Ariana Madix’s footsteps as she takes on the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway.

ICYMI, catch Whitney and Mark’s full final dance (and bombshell interview) on Call Her Daddy below.