What To Know
- Witney Carson faced fan backlash after posting a text exchange suggesting Zac Efron’s presence at DWTS was to help his brother Dylan Efron and partner Daniella Karagach get votes.
- Fans criticized Carson for publicly sharing a private message and accused her of hypocrisy, noting her own use of family support for votes throughout the season.
- The controversy arose shortly after Carson and her partner Robert Irwin won the Season 34 Mirrorball Trophy, beating out Dylan Efron and other finalists.
Dancing With the Stars pro dancer Witney Carson elicited fan backlash after posting a text exchange with her husband about her costars, Dylan Efron, and his dance partner, Daniella Karagach, involving Zac Efron.
After the Season 34 finale — during which she and her celebrity partner, Robert Irwin, took home the Mirrorball Trophy — Carson shared a tribute to her husband, Carson McAllister, for supporting her through the season. The social media update has since been deleted, but a screenshot was shared on Reddit.
In the texts, McAllister pointed out that Zac Efron was in the DWTS audience during the semi-finals to root for his brother, Dylan, and Dylan’s dance partner, Karagach.
“Zac Efron is here,” he wrote to his wife.
“To that, Carson texted, “I saw! They are trying to get votes.”
On Reddit, some fans slammed Carson for sharing the screenshot that called out her DWTS costars. The original thread poster pointed out, “You text those things to your hubby to get it out (like, I’ve 💯 sent similar style texts during work). You don’t then post said texts to your social media page 🤦♀️.”
Zac efron for votes says Witney
byu/Unusual_Diver_833 indwts
Someone else agreed, writing, “Little shady lol,” as a third shared, “This is so rude to say, let alone post… if he really wanted to get votes that desperately, he could’ve had Zac there every week.”
Another Redditor wrote, “Yeah, this is not a good look for her. Why would she post this, it’s not like she hasn’t done the same thing every week with the Irwin fam.”
A different DWTS fan commented, “I love Witney, but that’s a littleeeee crazy. I’d bet everything I have that the only reason Zac never went to watch Dylan (until last week) is to avoid this specific situation: being uncredited for the work and progress he made this season and people saying he only moved on bc of Zac. Also, definitely crazy considering( as other people have said) Bindi [Irwin] was in a dance that was not dedication week, and they talk about the family and their story all the time — knowing that Steve [Irwin] was a huge face in the world of fame that everyone loved.”
Yet another Reddit user echoed, “No hate to the Irwin family, but has Wit not consistently used Bindi/and emotional manipulation by continuously using Steve as a hook to get ppl to vote for them? Like what. Who cares. Zac was simply just showing up to the finals (prob the most important competitions of the season) to support his brother lol.”
Meanwhile, yet another Redditor bluntly declared, “This is so shady 😭😭.”
DWTS Season 34 wrapped up on November 25, with Carson and Irwin beating out the four other finalist couples: Efron and Karagach, Alix Earle and Valentin Chmerkovskiy, Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa, and Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten.