Mark Ballas and Whitney Leavitt have proven to be a formidable dancing duo since the Season 34 premiere of “Dancing With the Stars.” Consistently near the top of the leaderboard, they even became the first couple to get 10s during “Wicked Night.”
Disney/Eric McCandlessIn a since-deleted TikTok on October 24, they said they wanted to “reward” their fans with a giveaway. They planned to provide tickets, flights, and accommodations to the “Halloween Night” live show for two lucky winners. The winner would be chosen from those who commented on their favorite Ballas meme.
When they discovered they couldn’t, they said they’d come up with an acceptable alternative. A week later, many still have questions.
Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas Promise Fans a New Surprise After Giveaway Failure
“It was a mishap,” Leavitt told Us Weekly. “[It’s] something we wanted to do for the fans and then found out we couldn’t. It is what it is, but we’re going to find out something to do … to say how much we appreciate them.”
Ballas agreed, but said that they’d decide on something “after the season” ended. The season finale will air on November 25.
Shortly after they’d posted about the giveaway, they created another TikTok video explaining why they couldn’t do it.
“So we have some bad news,” Leavitt began. “We just got out of rehearsal, and we were both informed that we actually can’t do a giveaway for the “Dancing With the Stars” live show.”
“This has come directly from ABC and BBC, and is completely out of our hands,” Ballas said.
“It just really sucks, because Mark and I just want to do something really special for you guys who have shown us so much support and love,” Leavitt continued. “For us and the show. We’re going to get creative, we’re going to think of something.”
“We’ll think of something else to do for you guys, to show how grateful we are,” Ballas added.
Giveaway Cancellation Prompts Questions About Other Dancers Giving Away Tickets
While the idea of a giveaway may sound innocent to many, others didn’t see it that way.
“It’s giving a bribe for votes…” one person commented on the video. “I’m actually crying that yall didn’t realize this was obvious,” wrote another.
“Whitney i could understand not knowing but mark??? Wrote another alarmed fan. “hasnt he been doing this for years? seems pretty obvious to me that you cant do that.”
ABCAnother asked, “How come Ezra [Sosa] got to do something like this?”
In July, Kelsea Sheppard posted a TikTok video, writing “POV: [Ezra Sosa] says if this gets 75k likes he’ll get me tickets to DWTS live show!!!” She included a screenshot of her conversation with Sosa, agreeing to the 75k likes. In the end she had more than 130k likes.
“Ezra gave away tickets but didn’t advertise it,” was the response given by another fan. “This was advertised and could be a way to gain more votes but is shown as a “giveaway.”
