{"id":95622,"date":"2025-10-21T22:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/95622\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T22:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:08:09","slug":"mark-ballas-has-the-perfect-response-to-claims-he-gets-special-treatment-on-dwts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/95622\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Ballas Has the Perfect Response to Claims He Gets Special Treatment on \u2018DWTS\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Ballas has a clear message for the haters who believe he gets special treatment on Dancing With the Stars: It’s absolutely not true. The long-time pro on the show took to social media to address the rumors that he’s a favorite<\/a> of the judges and production team, and therefore gets the best songs each week.<\/p>\n

The rumors were especially rampant this week as it’s the much anticipated Wicked Night, and Mark and his partner Whitney Leavitt (Of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives fame) are set to dance a quickstep to the tune “Popular.”<\/p>\n

Mark shared a lip-sync video on both Instagram and TikTok ahead of Tuesday’s show, using the audio from the movie Hook saying, “I want, I want, I want, me, me, me, me, mine, mine, mine, mine, now, now now.” He added the caption: “How some of you think I am in the\u00a0DWTS\u00a0music meetings.”<\/p>\n

He continued by listing his choices for music in order, revealing that he and Whitney will be dancing to his fourth choice song. His official list of choices were:<\/p>\n

“For Good,” with a request for a Viennese Waltz with 6\/8 timing. It will performed as a rumba by Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa.<\/p>\n

“The Wizard and I,” with a request for jazz, since they recently did a foxtrot. This song will be danced by Scott Hoying and Rylee Arnold, who are doing it as a contemporary.<\/p>\n

“What Is This Feeling,” with the same notes to make it a jazz number instead of a foxtrot. This song went to Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy who will be doing jazz.<\/p>\n

“Popular,” which Mark noted, “could be a cute Quickstep but … ‘the tempo needs to be more consistent which the band can make happen.'”<\/p>\n

He added after his list, “But honestly this is one of my FAVORITE shows of all time and l\u2019d be happy with any song. I LOVE the music so much.”<\/p>\n

Celebs (and His Mom!) Weigh In<\/p>\n

The comments were instant gold. Fellow pro Ezra Sosa joked, \u201cwait\u2026we can have MUSIC MEETINGS?! \ud83d\udc80\ud83d\udc80\u201d while Emma Slater added, \u201cNot that we have music meetings mind you \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02.\u201d Celebrity contestant Dylan Efron quipped, “Don\u2019t buy it… wasn\u2019t \u2018I\u2019m Not That Girl\u2019 everyone\u2019s first choice?\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Mark\u2019s mother, legendary ballroom dancer Shirley Ballas, jumped in to show her support, writing, \u201cI have no words. This is spot on. \ud83d\udcaf You make me laugh from an ocean away. Keep delivering your work the best way you know how. Bring joy to those that love you \u2764.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, one fan deadpanned what everyone else was thinking: \u201cNot them screaming favoritism and you got the last song of your requests \ud83d\ude02.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others chimed in to defend Mark\u2019s talent and professionalism:<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this post\/caption bc ppl really don\u2019t know how it works week to week and I think it\u2019s a fascinating part of the process!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople just hate to see a diva slay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets the best songs!!! OR, and hear me out on this, he\u2019s just such a good choreographer that he can make any song seem like \u2018the best song.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGod forbid a man is just really good at his job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHAHAH they really think you have every decision and say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfac\u00a0SIGN UP for Parade\u2019s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/a>\u00a0\ud83c\udfac<\/p>\n

Setting the Record Straight With Humor<\/p>\n

Ballas\u2019s video served as a masterclass in how to shut down rumors with humor and grace. Rather than lashing out, he let the facts \u2014 and a funny Hook clip \u2014 speak for themselves.<\/p>\n

Now in his 20th season on DWTS, Mark has built a reputation as one of the show\u2019s most creative choreographers. His routines are consistently crowd favorites, and his ability to adapt to each theme week after week has kept him among the most respected pros in the ballroom.<\/p>\n

With Wicked Night shaping up to be one of the most anticipated episodes of the season, it\u2019s safe to say Mark and Whitney will be ready to prove once again that it’s talent and not favoritism that makes the magic happen.<\/p>\n

Related: ‘DWTS’ Pro Mark Ballas’ Childhood Dance Video Is Pure ’90s Gold<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Parade<\/a> on Oct 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the Celebs<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Ballas has a clear message for the haters who believe he gets special treatment on Dancing With…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[21183,93,60073,61,60,60072,1579,282,30931],"class_list":{"0":"post-95622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-dancing-with-the-stars","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ezra-sosa","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-mark-ballas","14":"tag-shirley-ballas","15":"tag-tv","16":"tag-whitney-leavitt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}