Hilaria Baldwin had a hard go in the ballroom during her run on “Dancing With the Stars.”
The reality star opened up about becoming “the villain” during season 34.
The Villian
Baldwin — who is married to actor Alec Baldwin — was partnered with professional dancer Gleb Savchenko in late 2025. Despite having a background in ballroom dancing, she and Gleb were eliminated during week 4 and ended up placing 11th.
“One of the hard things — especially people who come from the ballroom world, which I came from — was the drama,” Baldwin told Us Weekly at the Minky Couture Takes NYC VIP Red Carpet Celebration with Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea in New York City on Friday, October 23.
She went on to explain that because of her dance background, she “became the villain” of her season.
“Not that it was a secret. They knew that going [in]. But people have very strong feelings about dancers who go [on] there,” Hilaria added.
Following her elimination in October 2025, Hilaria claimed she was voted off early due to negativity circulating on social media.
“I guess what people were doing is they were having campaigns where they wouldn’t just vote for their favorite — because you can vote 10 times for a couple — they were voting for all the other couples except us,” she told the outlet at the time. “So they were boosting everybody else and trying to drown out my fan base.”
She later reiterated her claim in a pointed Instagram video, saying, “I did get bullied off the show, I did. That’s for sure.”
Ongoing Drama
One year after Hilaria’s elimination, it appears the drama on set has not slowed down.
Val Chmerkovskiy became the first pro dancer to be suspended from competition after drama targeting judge Carrie Ann Inaba.
After Carrie Ann criticized a lift performed by Chmerkovskiy’s wife, Jenna Johnson, and her partner Harry Shum Jr., during their same, the Ukrainian dancer took to social media to share a pointed message. Despite apologizing for his remarks and removing the post, Chmerkovskiy was benched for one week and forced to sit out during Dedication Night.
“I have known him since we’re teenagers and Val is a savant. Val’s an amazing dancer. Maks Chmerkovskiy and Gleb too. Gleb is an amazing dancer. They know what they’re doing,” Hilaria told Us.
She added, “We typically dance on a tour with a lot of other dancers in a ballroom competition. This is a show competition. That’s the format of dancing tours. You could interpret it whether it was a lift or not. Ultimately, it’s a TV show. It’s gonna be OK. It’s a big family and they are all gonna get together and it is going to be fine. They’ve known each other a long time, but I always remember that these pros are some of the top dancers ever and I don’t ever want that to be lost on the audience.”
Chmerkovskiy will return to the ballroom with partner Jenna Dewan on Tuesday, October 27, for Horror Movie Night.
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Reality Star Dishes on Becoming ‘the Villain’ on DWTS