Whitney Leavitt ‘Grateful’ After ‘DWTS’ Elimination, Shares How It Changed Her (Exclusive)

Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas spoke to “Extra” after they were eliminated from “Dancing with the Stars” on the semifinals. 

After handling that difficult moment with grace on the show, Whitney shared how she was feeling and how the show changed her life. 

"I'm just so grateful,” she said, before giving a shout-out to casting director Deena Katz, "I talked to her a little bit. Like, her casting me in this show, I will forever be so grateful for that because it's changed my life. I've changed as a person. I've made friendships, like, forever friendships, and I'm just so grateful.”

Mark reflected on the season, sharing, "Big shift this season. It's kind of like how it was back in the day, like the intensity, the excitement. I love seeing the show… coming back to life and having so many people interested in it, but ultimately like what a journey we went on. We've become really close friends.”

He went on, "I'm proud of the body of work. I'm proud of the work we did… for Whitney especially, like, this is just an amazing time.”

Mark teased, “More things will come from this… There's things in the pipe that we can't say yet. It's coming. But like look, it sucks to fall at the last hurdle, but I've been super proud of the work and just had an amazing time. And again, you're going to have an incredible final. Like what a stacked finale. What a great season. What a great cast. And I'm really looking forward to watching this.”

Whitney sharing how she has changed the most, "I know it's just so simple, but believing in yourself, like, it's such a simple thing, but once you do, like, you have no idea what things can come within reach and having experienced this show, like, that's what I feel like I'm going to take from it.”

See our full recap below!