Did 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' Factor Into This Week's 'DWTS' Elimination?

This week’s Dancing with the Stars — the first of the season without Andy Richter — delivered the first bitter pill I’ve had to swallow since I began watching the competition. It was Prince week, and you couldn’t have asked for better music, although as good as the house band is, when they were called upon to perform many of the Prince songs, they fell a bit short, if only because you can’t out-Prince Prince unless you’re Sinéad O’Connor.

But that wasn’t my issue with the episode. The issue is that the second-best dancer of the night — and arguably the best dancer of the season, technically speaking — was sent home despite earning better scores than several teams below her. Whitney Leavitt left the competition with a combined 58 out of 60 on the night (and she probably deserved a 59). She earned that score. I’m not convinced some of the teams below her earned theirs. It’s late in the competition, so I expected the judges to be more critical, but they didn’t give out a single 8 all night, and a few performances deserved lower scores.

Dylan Efron’s partner, Daniella Karagach, might be the best professional dancer in the group, but Efron himself barely did anything of note in his first performance. The man is adorable — and his brother, Zac, looked on uncomfortably from the audience like a good brother trying to be supportive without stealing the spotlight — but Karagach carried that entire first dance.

He was better in his second number, though the difficulty level still lagged behind the others. Likewise, I’ll grant that Elaine Stritch nailed her second performance, but her first was lackluster at best, like something thrown together at the last minute because they spent the week focusing on the second dance. But that last move in the second routine? Eye-popping.

Jordan Chiles is as good as she is every week, which is to say: What she lacks in grace, she makes up for in degree of difficulty.

Alix Earle was as good as ever, and she also landed “Purple Rain.” No one is going home after performing to “Purple Rain.” My only complaint is where it stopped — right when the song gets great. She was brilliant, though.

The performance of the night, however, went once again to Robert Irwin, who has to be the favorite to win this thing. His positivity is relentless, and his moves are just as demanding as those of his partner, Witney Carson. He’s also very good at the jive. Just give this man the Mirrorball Trophy now.

And then there was Whitney Leavitt. Just try to find a weakness here. It’s a perfect routine. I have no idea how Carrie Ann Inaba could give her a 9. Does she have something against Whitney Leavitt?

She delivered another flawless performance in her second routine (this one earned a 10 from Carrie Ann Inaba), but it was set to the least popular Prince song of the night.

Whitney Leavitt should be in the finals, but I’m not that surprised she was eliminated. I predicted two weeks ago that she wouldn’t make it to the finals — not because she doesn’t deserve it, but because the voting audience hasn’t warmed to her as much as some others.

That was doubly true this week. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives returned for its third season, and Whitney does not come off well in the hugely popular Hulu series. She basically quit the show until she heard that if she resumed filming, she’d get a chance to audition for Dancing with the Stars. She admitted on the show that it was the only reason she returned; the rest of MomTok had essentially alienated her; and worse still, she was the only cast member who aligned with Demi, this season’s villain.

And all of that played out in the week since she last performed. I think she may be the only reasonably normal Mormon wife of the bunch — there’s a reason she left the show, since those people are toxic as hell — but she also came out of the third season looking decidedly workmanlike. She had no interest in being anything other than a co-worker to the rest of MomTok, and while I don’t blame her, it probably didn’t win her any new fans. It also fed into her DWTS persona: very professional, very down-to-business, and a sensational dancer whose story just didn’t connect.

She was my second-favorite dancer (aside from Irwin), and I like her exactly because she’s far less toxic than the other Mormon wives, but I don’t think it helped her in this competition. Meanwhile, Dylan Efron may be the weakest dancer left, but he brought his famous brother, his abs, his smile, and an off-the-charts likability. Them’s the breaks. But Whitney deserved better!