Unless you live under a social-media free rock, you probably know who Whitney Leavitt is. If you don’t know her specifically, you might recognize the name of the show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (TSLOMW) where she is a prominent figure (and edited villain). Now, I am the first to say that I am not the biggest fan of Whitney. I’m not a fan of her in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and I’m especially not a fan of her infamous RSV TikTok. When she was cast on the latest season (34) of Dancing with The Stars (DWTS), I was intrigued, and even I can’t deny that she was a phenomenal dancer. However, in the ten weeks that Whitney was on, I watched an absolutely brutal hate campaign tear into Whitney and her partner, Mark Ballas. It got to a point where, even after she was eliminated, people were still tearing at her on social media. So, let’s discuss why people need to calm down, massively. It’s a dance competition show, y’all. It’s not that serious.
Being the (chronically) online person that I am, I saw quickly how the culture around Dancing with The Stars was changing, starting with contestant Andy Richter. Andy was paired with pro Emma Slater, and in the beginning, everyone loved him. Andy was the oldest contestant on this season, and he soared in popularity because of his eagerness to learn how to dance and his infectious energy. At first, the audience loved energy and sent their votes his way so that they could continue watching him learn and grow through this competition. However, around the time Hilaria Baldwin was sent home in Week Four, the energy started to change around Andy. People on social media were mad that he was still in the competition, with one person on Reddit remarking that because they were voting for Andy, they were told that they were “ruining the show”. It got to a point where people began to band together to vote for everyone but Andy, hoping that if he couldn’t get the audience vote, then he would be eliminated on judge’s scores alone. When Andy was eliminated on Week Nine, the “fans” rejoiced and set their sights on their next target: Whitney.
Whitney had been the target of hate for a while because of her persona on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and her degree in modern dance from Brigham Young University but overall, she was a DWTS darling. The judges loved her, she was improving and doing so well in the competition that honestly? I saw her winning and going to the finals of the show. But when season three of TSLOMW came out just before the semifinals of DWTS, coupled with the wildly toxic group on social media who was feeling victorious over sending Andy home, it was a recipe for disaster. Now, Mark and Whitney had been on the receiving end of some seriously vindictive comments, but for lack of a better term, it seemed “manageable.” It was what we’ve deemed to be the “normal” amount of social media hate that a reality TV villain receives (even though no one should receive hate for how they are edited on TV). But, with the release of the new season of TSLOMW, Whitney admitted that she only came back to the show so she could have the opportunity to audition for DWTS. This made DWTS fans absolutely furious, and they turned their attention to taking the audience vote away from Whitney, succeeding in sending her home in the semi-finals. One would think that this would cut the amount of hate that Whitney and Mark had been receiving, no? Well, no.
Somehow the hate became… worse? People were still wildly aggressive to Whitney and Mark in their comments, even bleeding into the comments on posts of other contestants. This was then met with Whitney defenders in the comments, those who thought that she belonged in the finals, and every DWTS post turned into a post about Whitney and Mark. Enter Alex Cooper and Call Her Daddy.
Where internet controversy lies, Alex Cooper seems to be associated, especially in reality TV. Not even a week after Whitney was eliminated, Alex was promoting an episode featuring Whitney, Mark, and their highly in-demand freestyle routine. For those who aren’t familiar with the format of Dancing with The Stars, in the finale each duo is given a freestyle dance routine to display whatever they want. People were clamoring for this freestyle, especially since Mark Ballas has had some phenomenal freestyle choreography (my favorites include Lindsey Stirling and Sadie Roberston). In the Call Her Daddy interview, Whitney and Mark revealed the extent to the hate they got, including some vile comments that I will not be repeating here, and showcased an amazing freestyle routine that was a beautiful commentary about Whitney and social media.
Now, as I’ve said, I am not the biggest fan of Whitney Leavitt. But hearing her and Mark talk about the hate they’ve received, and how Whitney blamed herself for it and admitted that at this point, it doesn’t bother her as much as it used to broke my heart. Because y’all, this is reality television. These are real people on your TV screen, whether or not you like them or not. It’s been a recent trend of people who feel entitled to going to people’s DMs, Instagram comments, whatever they have access to, and saying some of the vilest things that they can think of and then turning their phone off. And that’s the thing. They can be vile and horrific and hurt everyone else because what? They didn’t like something they did on television? People need to get a serious grip on reality, because at the end of the day, you’re bullying someone you don’t know for no articulate reason, and then you can turn your phone off and forget about the nastiness while the person you attacked has to live with that hate. I don’t know when this became normalized, but we need to calm down. If something is making you *that* upset, turn it off. Nothing in the world is that deep where you need to send someone you don’t know hate, at the end of the day, it was a dance competition show. Calm down.