Witney Carson may be the professional dancer in her Dancing With the Stars partnership, but lately it has been Guillermo Rodriguez who refuses to stop moving — even when his pregnant partner needs to take a break.
Carson, 32, shared a glimpse inside rehearsals as she and Rodriguez, 55, prepared for another week of Season 35. In the clip, Carson was resting while Guillermo continued working through his footwork by himself instead of sitting down with her.
“Anytime I sit down he keeps rehearsing,” Carson explained, before praising just how seriously her celebrity partner has been taking the competition. She later said he was “truly working so hard” and described herself as proud of him.
The moment was especially meaningful because Guillermo entered DWTS with virtually no dance experience. He has previously admitted that remembering the steps has been one of his biggest challenges, but said he has been enjoying the process and gradually becoming more comfortable on the ballroom floor.
Carson, meanwhile, is competing while expecting her third child with husband Carson McAllister. Earlier in the season, she explained that her energy had improved after the first trimester, although she was becoming more easily out of breath and expected rehearsals to grow more difficult as her pregnancy progressed.
That has meant listening to her body and taking breaks when necessary — something Guillermo clearly understands.
But instead of treating Carson’s breaks as his own opportunity to rest, Guillermo has apparently been using them to squeeze in even more practice.
The dedication comes after the pair survived another elimination despite sitting near the bottom of the leaderboard. Their paso doble to Rihanna’s “Where Have You Been” received disappointing scores, but Carson said she believed they were slowly beginning to win the judges over.
Guillermo agreed that something had changed. Compared with the season premiere, he said he felt considerably more confident during their second performance and wasn’t nearly as nervous once he stepped onto the ballroom floor.
For Carson, improvement rather than perfection appears to be the priority. Before the season began, she said she wanted Guillermo to get better every day while still allowing the personality viewers already know from Jimmy Kimmel Live! to shine through.
Their partnership has also developed into a genuine friendship. Carson called Guillermo the “kindest partner ever,” while Guillermo’s willingness to keep rehearsing when nobody is asking him to may explain why she has become increasingly proud of his progress.
Guillermo may not have entered Dancing With the Stars as the season’s most experienced performer, but Carson’s latest glimpse from rehearsal showed something scores cannot completely measure: when his professional partner needs to sit down, he keeps practicing anyway — determined to make the next performance better than the last.
