Whitney Leavitt’s shocking elimination from Dancing With The Stars this week has even divided the ladies of The View.
Hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sara Haines found themselves on opposite sides of the debate when the co-hosts discussed why Leavitt, who was considered both an audience favorite and a “villain” this season, was eliminated from the show.
The View shared a clip from Dancing With The Stars in which Leavitt addressed a comment she made on Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, where she claimed she only agreed to do the Hulu reality show for a chance to compete on DWTS. Griffin said the producers’ decision to address this on DWTS before the public vote was “messy” and may have caused Leavitt to get voted off.
In the clip, Leavitt told Julianne Hough, “After two seasons of doing the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, I wanted to take a break. But once I found out that his would be an opportunity for all of the girls to go after this, I wanted to take that chance.” She then gushed about her experience on the show, telling Hough, “I’m just having the time of my life and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Joy Behar put it bluntly after sharing the clip: “It didn’t end well for her because she was eliminated from the show. So, why do you think she was punished?”
Griffin had many thoughts to share about Leavitt, who she admitted is known to be “kind of a villain on Mormon Wives.”
“She kind of openly said in the new season that just dropped she wasn’t interested in having friendships with the girls, she saw it as all business, and she wanted to be there to get the Dancing With The Stars opportunity,” Griffin explained to her co-hosts.
“Well, producers on both shows decided to be messy dropping that revelation just as the finals are approaching on Dancing With The Stars and the public votes,” she continued. Griffin said Leavitt is an “excellent dancer” but noted that confession, which judge Derek Hough lauded as “courageous,” may have worked against her.
“I think it made people feel like, ‘Oh you just wanted to climb the ladder, it wasn’t about authentically having friendships and being there,’” Griffin said. “I’m split though because I think she deserved to win it all.”
Haines, on the other hand, was not so sure after having watched this season of Dancing With The Stars.
“I think the issue here, having watched the season […] She was really not nice to a lot of people,” Haines admitted.
Though this was not a “popularity contest,” Haines argued, “She was an amazing dancer but at the end of the day, it’s how you feel watching her that makes you vote. And if you have witnessed someone be really nasty to a lot of people, it’s like a hot guy who is such a jerk. They get less hot really quick!”
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.
