DWTS' Witney Carson Is Pregnant, Expecting Baby No. 3
Witney Carson Teases Her "Different Role" on 'Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro'
Witney Carson will be dancing with a bump.
The Dancing With the Stars pro announced that she's pregnant with her and husband Carson McAllister’s third baby. And more than that, she will compete on the upcoming 35th season of the dance competition series—taking to the dance floor with Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s Guillermo Rodriguez.
"We’ve been keeping a secret…" Carson captioned a video posted to her Instagram Aug. 17 of her, McAllister and their sons Leo, 5, and Jet, 3, posing with a sonogram photo in a photobooth. "A new addition to the McAllister gang coming soon! We are so grateful and overjoyed to be growing our family."
The 32-year-old wrote "baby number 3 loading" over the black-and-white video.
“My family is growing," she told People in an interview published the day of her announcement. "We’re so blessed to keep growing our family. I can’t wait to become a family of five."
"I am just in pure survival mode right now," Carson continued. "I am constantly trying to eat to keep the nausea at bay. I’m trying to rest as much as I can."
While she admitted that it's been "very difficult to rest" with two young children, McAllister has made sure that she's been able to find time to do so.
"My husband has been an absolute champ," Carson gushed, "and he has allowed me to rest, and he’s very much taking care of all of us."
The reigning Mirrorball champ—who won season 34 with partner Robert Irwin—will make history as the first pro to enter a Dancing With the Stars season pregnant, which she called "scary but also exciting."
"My plan is to, as long as the baby is healthy and as long as I’m doing well, then we will compete again on this season on Dancing with the Stars," Carson shared, "which is very exciting because I love being a mom more than anything, and I also love to dance. I love both. And so if I can do both, then that’s what I want to do."
Witney Carson/Instagram
"I’m hoping that if everything goes well and the baby’s healthy," she added, "that it’ll be a really great experience."
The mother of two further elaborated on what she finds "daunting" about the prospect of competing on DWTS while pregnant.
"It wasn’t on my bingo card to compete on Dancing with the Stars and be four months pregnant, but I think that it’s a beautiful thing,” she said on Good Morning America in an Aug. 17 interview announcing the news. “I want to feel empowered. I want to see what my body can do."
"Hopefully Guillermo will be right there beside me and we can work as a team," Carson went on. "And, you know, being a mother is the greatest blessing that I could ever ask for. So I’m very blessed."
Keep reading for more about Dancing With the Stars...
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How Much Do the Celebrities Get Paid to Be on Dancing With the Stars?
Citing multiple sources, Variety reported in 2019 that Dancing With the Stars contestants make $125,000 for the rehearsal period and first two weeks of the show. If they progress beyond that point, the outlet continued, they earn more money each week. At the time, sources told the publication stars could earn a maximum of $295,000.
However, Bobby Bones said he made more than this when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.
"That show pays OK," the radio personality said on a Sept. 2025 episode of Jason Tartick's podcast Trading Secrets. "Like, first episode, no money. Second episode, $10,000. I think it's like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, $20,000. It ends up being $50,000 an episode if you last."
Also receiving a base salary of around $110,000, Bones continued, "I ended up making close to $400,000 from that show."
ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.
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What Do the Pros Get Paid on Dancing With the Stars?
Similarly, little has been shared publicly about how much the pros get paid. But as with the contestants, it seems like the longer they're on the show, the more money they can make.
But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they're not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.
"You're guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks," Jenna Johnson said on a June 2025 episode of Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester's podcast The Morning After. "I think there's different contracts though. I can't speak for everybody."
Disney/Eric McCandless
Do Pros Get Paid More If They Win Dancing With the Stars?
Apparently not.
While Johnson—who won season 26 with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, as well as season 33 with The Bachelor's Joey Graziadei—says the pros don't get a larger paycheck if they take home what is now called the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, she noted there's still an incentive to make it to the finale (besides bragging rights, of course).
"If you make it all the way to the end, you're getting paid the whole season, which is amazing, and you get a bonus on top of that for making it to the finale," she explained on The Morning After. "If you win, it's not like you win a $1 million and split it with your partner. You're just getting a cute trophy together."
Instagram / Dancing With the Stars
Do the Troupe Members Get Paid as Much as the Pros on Dancing With the Stars?
That doesn't appear to be the case.
On a 2022 episode of Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold recalled how her salary was cut "more than in half" when she was demoted from pro to troupe member.
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How Are Pros and Celebrities Paired Together on Dancing With the Stars?
The pros get little input when it comes to being matched with a celebrity.
"You get no say," Lindsay said on a May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers' Hot Smart Rich podcast. "It's very much just, 'Here's your partner. Make it work.'"
In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.
"They really want to keep it a secret until you meet them live," Jenna said on The Morning After. "They want that genuine reaction. So I think people always think we know who we have and we're keeping it a secret. Absolutely not. They do not tell us. They really don't even want us to know the cast. It gets leaked a lot, but they want it very hush-hush until you walk in and meet your partner."
As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?
"It's based on height, build and personality and compatibility," former showrunner Rob Wade told E! News in 2015. "We don't pair people who aren't going to get on. It's too intense. It's not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn't do that. That would just be miserable experience for the celebrity, for us and the viewer. You don't want to see two people who don't like each other and, quite frankly, we have made that mistake pairing people up who didn't get on so well."
Disney/Eric McCandless
How Often Do the Pros and Celebrities Practice on Dancing With the Stars?
Put simply, a lot.
"Every day we have four-hour rehearsals," Rylee Arnold, who was partnered with Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik on season 33, shared on a September 2024 episode of the Lightweights Podcast With Joe Vulpis. "It’s either 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m."
But the work doesn't stop once the rehearsal wraps. Rylee noted she might then meet with producers or the creative team, work on choreography or study dance videos.
"Literally my whole life is devoted to it," she continued, "but it's my passion and it's what I love. So, it makes me so happy."
Indeed, it's a no-days-off kind of gig.
"We have our show day on Tuesday and then it's Wednesday to Sunday, straight rehearsals," Rylee added. "And then Monday we have camera blocking and then Tuesday's show day again."
Instagram / Emma Slater
Do the Pros Get to Pick the Songs Each Week for Their Dance With Their Celebrity Partner?
"Mostly yes," Emma Slater and Britt Stewart revealed in a September 2025 Instagram video, "though it's a collaboration with producers."
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What's the Process Like for Making the Costumes for Dancing With the Stars?
If you thought the quickstep was fast, just wait until you hear about the pace of the costume department.
"We meet with the set and lighting designers, dancers and talent and create a story [for each pair]," costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner told TV Insider back in 2017. "Then we sketch out ideas. We have five days, max, to make all the outfits. That’s half a day per costume, not including all the rhinestones. The fitting and trimming we do later. We have about 20 people in our department and then we have a separate tailor shop. It’s a big enterprise."
In fact, costume designer Steven Norman Lee said pairs usually try on their costumes for the first time just hours before showtime. And while the department "might use a pair of pants again for the boys," he continued, everything is generally made custom each week.
As Gschwendtner added, "We do reuse things for group numbers or promo shoots, but not for the competition. We don’t reuse things unless there’s a specific reason to do so. We try to keep everybody fresh and new in something different every week, so it stays interesting."
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