Tonight, the reigning Mirror Ball Champion arrives on Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro. And she’s got plenty of wisdom at her disposal.Witney Carson is the latest pro to appear on the new DWTS spinoff, reuniting with her Season 34-winning partner Robert Irwin. The 32-year-old kicks off a three-week stint that will keep her on the set through the finale, when one contestant will be given a spot on this fall’s edition of the hit ABC reality series. And watching and judging the remaining five dancers compete for a spot in this fall’s roster, the 32-year old admits that she couldn’t help but have deja vu from her own reality TV origin story: So You Think You Can Dance.
?SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox ? “I was having flashbacks,” Carson tells Parade in an exclusive interview. “As I was watching these kids go through all of these challenges, I was having flashbacks. Because it’s very much So You Think You Can Dance. You are on your own. You are fighting for your life, essentially. And that’s what these kids were doing. And each week they had, they were presented a different challenge.”The challenge in tonight’s episode is by and far the most applicable to the DWTS experience. Carson serves as a mentor and judge for the hopeful pros as they get their first taste of teaching notable names, tasked with choreographing a ballroom routine with a celebrity superfan. It’s an opportunity to get an unvarnished look at how the samba sausage gets made, creating a stunning routine while also spotlighting someone who feels far from comfortable in this environment.
“I love the reality part of it,” Carson says. “Because we get to see really behind the scenes of what their mental state goes through. For us pros, that’s half the battle. When we go into choreographing, [there’s] all of this pressure of making sure our celebrity looks the absolute best. There’s a lot of mental struggles that come with that and a lot of stress that comes with that. I think people will get a real insight to what we actually go through week to week.”Related: ‘Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro’ Gets a New Frontrunner — See Who Went HomeGetting to watch these dancers compete for a coveted spot on the pro cast, of course, has Carson thinking back to her own DWTS origin story. As mentioned before, her on-screen debut came on Season 9 of So You Think You Can Dance, where she made a run all the way to third place at just 18 years old. As she recounts, the DWTS producers saw her on the FOX show and called her for an audition. And before she could even unlace her dancing shoes, she was off to L.A., ready for the biggest gig of her life to begin.Carson spent two years in the DWTS troupe, providing support for all the action on the dance floor. And in 2014, she was given the ultimate promotion: The call to officially become a pro, partnered alongside singer-songwriter Cody Simpson. But, outside the ballroom, a horrifying diagnosis was threatening to stop the job before it even began.
“Right when I got the call to be a professional on Dancing With the Stars, I also was dealing with melanoma,” she reveals. “I had gone into the doctor. They found a small mole on the top of my foot. Both my parents had melanoma, so it was something that all of the kids got checked for. And the doctor was like, ‘If you don’t take care of this, you’re going to have to go through chemo.’ And I was like, ‘Hold on. My dream is about to happen. I’m about to be on Dancing With the Stars. I don’t have time for this!'”
Despite her initial protestations, Carson ultimately listened to her doctor’s advice. She underwent surgery to remove the mole, as well as take out some lymph nodes on her hip. And, while the panic of melanoma had subsided, the anxiety of missing out on the upcoming season because of the treatment ramped up. And so, shockingly, she told nobody on the show about the surgery she had undergone. Not the judges, not Simpson, not even the producers.What didn’t help, however, was what happened during her very first rehearsal as a DWTS pro.“No one knew. So I was hiding this big scar on my foot. I had wraps on,” she recounts. “I remember I had not gotten cleared to dance yet, but of course I was going to move. So I did anyway. And I looked down at my foot. And I just had a big pile of blood. My tennis shoe was completely soaked in blood.”Related: Witney Carson Teases 3 Major ‘DWTS’ Announcements Coming SoonShe continues, “Every time after the live show, I had to go to the doctor and get it wrapped and fixed. And no one knew.”
To make this story even more unbelievable, Carson made it a whopping five weeks into her debut season alongside Simpson. That’s almost a month and a half of bloody footwear, trips to the doctor, and likely excruciating pain. All the while, she put on a brave face, not telling a soul involved with the show what was actually happening until much later, when she had become much more established as a pro.While Carson’s first steps as a pro were far from ideal, she would get a much better run later that year. Four months after getting eliminated, she returned to the ballroom alongside Alfonso Ribeiro. And for any DWTS devotees, you know what happened next. She dominated the competition alongside the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor, earning the Mirror Ball Trophy in only her second season. And it was only fitting that, over a decade later, Ribeiro would be alongside her again for her next victory, serving as host while she put on another masterclass of a season with Irwin. Carson’s wins serve as bookmarks of two very different eras in her life: A fresh-faced teenager harboring an incredibly taxing secret on her own, and a wife and mom who now gleefully sports an entire support system every week she hits the dance floor.New episodes of Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro air Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
Related: ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Casting Director Breaks Down the First Season 35 Contestants — And the One Rule to Get Cast (Exclusive)
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