The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Jen Affleck is giving fans some insight into her costar Whitney Leavitt’s “competitive nature” as they both prepare to go head-to-head on Dancing With the Stars.
“I think we’re doing completely different dances, so she’s focusing on what she’s focusing on and I’m focusing on what I’m doing,” Jen, 26, exclusively told Us Weekly on September 2, ahead of her Tuesday, September 16, reality dancing competition debut.
“[The competition] is for sure friendly. I mean, on my end,” she continued. “Kidding. I mean, who knows with her? I know she’s very competitive. I mean, she competed [her whole life]. She’s an actual dancer, so I think she definitely has more of that competitive nature.”
She added, “But yeah, for me, I just am there to have fun.”
On Wednesday, September 3, ABC announced the contestants and couple pairings for Dancing With the Stars season 34, revealing that Jen would be paired with new pro dancer Jan Ravnik, while Whitney, 32, will be dancing alongside pro Mark Ballas.
Hilaria Baldwin, wife of Alec Baldwin, is paired with Gleb Savchenko, while Jordan Chiles is partnered with Ezra Sosa and athlete Baron Davis will glide across the floor with pro Britt Stewart. Social media personality Alix Earle will dance with Val Chmerkovskiy while Dylan Efron, brother of Zac Efron, will dance with pro Daniella Karagach.
Rounding out the dancing couples vying for the Mirror Ball Trophy is Danielle Fishel and Pasha Pashkov, Corey Feldman with season 33 winner Jenna Johnson, Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten, Scott Hoying and Rylee Arnold and finally Robert Irwin, brother of season 21 winner Bindi Irwin, dancing with Witney Carson.
With such a stacked roster, Jen admitted to Us that she has already experienced some surprise run-ins with her fellow competitors.
“There’s a lot of people I wasn’t expecting,” she said. “It’s so funny. I ran into Dylan Efron, which is one of the stars, and because I don’t know anyone I was like, ‘Oh, you’re a pro dancer?’ He’s like, ‘No, I’m a star.’ I was like, ‘Oh, OK.’”
She continued, “I look over to Jan [and[ I’m like, ‘Who is that?’ He’s like, ‘You don’t know who that is? That’s Zac Efron’s brother.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s crazy.’ Honestly, just, yeah, I think this season’s going to be great. There’s a lot of great stars, and it’s going to be very, very tough.”
Dancing With the Stars premieres on ABC and Disney+ Tuesday, September 16, at 8 p.m. ET, with new episodes streaming the next day on Hulu.
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