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Witney Carson has revealed the reason she was absent from the Dancing With the Stars tour stop in Utah.
“Utah peeps. I’M SO SORRY I CAN’T be there for the Utah shows. I had the Steve Irwin Gala performance with Robert [Irwin] booked last year,” Carson, 32, wrote via her Instagram Story on Saturday, May 2. “If I could be in two places at once I would be! I love you all so much!!”
Carson went on to share several clips from the Steve Irwin Gala, which she attended alongside husband Carson McAllister and their two children: sons Leo, 5, and Jet, 2. The event honors the legacy of the late wildlife expert and conservationist, who died in 2006 after suffering an injury by a stingray while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef.
“At the Steve Irwin Gala tonight supporting our favorite family!” she wrote via her Instagram Story on Saturday. “Such an honor to be here.”
Carson joined the DWTS tour as a special guest from April 21 to 30 alongside former partner and season 34 Mirrorball champion Robert, 22.
“Our last dance, that freestyle, was our way to say thank you to everybody who’s been on that journey,” Robert said on Good Morning America in November 2025, referring to his freestyle routine. “We just knew we had to make it work because it was the way to just say, ‘We’re so grateful for this experience.’”
For Carson, winning felt “so different” this time around. (The pro dancer took home her first Mirrorball Trophy with now-host Alfonso Ribeiro in 2014.)
“The first time I won, I was 19 years old — and now I’m 32,” Carson said at the time. “I have kids now, and to celebrate with them and my husband was so special.”
Since the season came to an end, ABC announced that the competition will return for season 35 with celeb contestants Ciara Miller and Maura Higgins. Robert will also be hosting spinoff show Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, with the goal of finding the next pro dancer for the main broadcast. Pro Mark Ballas and his mother, Shirley Ballas, will also join the series — set to premiere this summer — as judges.
“Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro features 12 exceptional up-and-coming dancers who move into one house and compete in a grueling audition process,” a logline reads. “[They are] all vying for a coveted spot as a pro dancer on season 35 of Dancing With the Stars.”
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