Witney Carson is officially heading back to the Dancing With the Stars ballroom for Season 35, but her return will look very different this time. The reigning champion has revealed both a major family update and the celebrity she’ll be teaching when the competition begins next month.
Carson confirmed on Good Morning America that her Season 35 celebrity partner is Guillermo Rodriguez, the longtime Jimmy Kimmel Live! personality known for his comedy and celebrity interviews. They are the first complete celebrity-pro partnership officially announced for the upcoming season.
The pairing wasn’t necessarily what viewers would have predicted for Carson following her Season 34 victory. Last season, she partnered with Robert Irwin, and the two went all the way to the finale and captured the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. The victory gave Carson her second championship on the show.
But Carson’s initial reaction to Guillermo suggests she’s embracing a very different kind of partnership. She said she was extremely excited when she discovered who she’d been given, describing Guillermo as sweet, fun and personable. For Carson, that personality appears particularly important considering everything else happening in her life right now.
That’s because Carson also announced that she and husband Carson McAllister are expecting their third child. The couple already have two sons, Leo and Jet, and Carson will be approximately four months pregnant as she prepares for the demanding new season.
Carson acknowledged that competing this far into a pregnancy feels daunting because she has never attempted anything quite like it before. At the same time, she doesn’t intend to disguise her pregnancy beneath her costumes. Instead, she has spoken proudly about being able to continue dancing while expecting her third child.
In another interview after the announcement, Carson admitted that competing pregnant wasn’t something she had expected to be doing this year. She nevertheless sounded enthusiastic about the unusual challenge ahead and particularly excited about working with Guillermo.
Guillermo, meanwhile, enters the ballroom without the kind of obvious dance background that can immediately turn a celebrity into a preseason favorite. That puts Carson back into one of the roles that has defined DWTS for years: taking someone outside their comfort zone and figuring out how to turn their personality into entertaining performances.
It also makes their partnership especially interesting after Carson’s championship run with Irwin. Rather than simply trying to recreate last season, she’ll have to build an entirely new dynamic while simultaneously adjusting choreography and rehearsals around her pregnancy.
Carson has said the supportive atmosphere surrounding Dancing With the Stars is part of what keeps people coming back to the series. This season, that support could become particularly meaningful as she balances being a professional dancer, teacher, competitor and expectant mother at the same time.
Season 35 is scheduled to begin with a two-night premiere on September 15 and 16, while the remaining celebrity and professional pairings are expected to be revealed on September 2. For now, however, Carson and Guillermo have become the first official duo—and after everything Carson accomplished last season, viewers will be watching closely to see what she can create with perhaps one of her most unexpected partners yet.
