ABC Shuts Down ‘DWTS’ Couple’s Attempt to Give Fan a Trip to LA for Halloween Night

Dancing With the Stars duo Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas’ attempt to give away tickets for Halloween Night was quickly shut down by ABC, as fans accused the pair of trying to unfairly court votes.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star and her pro partner announced Thursday that they would be giving away tickets to the live Dancing With the Stars competition’s Halloween Night performance in a since-deleted TikTok, with a Reddit post dedicated to the giveaway indicating that Leavitt and Ballas had said in the initial announcement that flights and accommodations would be included.

Just hours after they announced the giveaway, however, Ballas returned to TikTok with Leavitt to reveal that ABC and BBC had shut things down. “So, we have some bad news,” Leavitt said in a TikTok Friday. “We just got out of rehearsal, and we were both informed that we actually can’t do a giveaway for the Dancing With the Stars live show.”

@whitneyleavitt

we’re gunna get creative and find a way to make it up to you! 💕💗love you guys!

♬ original sound – Whitney Leavitt

“This has come directly from ABC and BBC and is completely out of our hands,” Ballas explained, as Leavitt added, “It just really sucks because Mark and I just want to do something really special for you guys that have shown us so much support and love, for us and the show. We’re gonna get creative. We’re gonna think of something to give away.”

Ballas agreed, “We’ll think of something else to do for you guys to show how grateful we are.”

Dancing With the Stars fans didn’t seem shocked to see Ballas and Leavitt’s giveaway shut down, as many pointed out that it seemed like it would be a rules violation for the viewer-vote-based competition show.

“No kidding… ‘vote for us and I’ll give you a gift’ that’s rigging the whole thing,” one person commented, as another added, “Well bribing for votes of course is against the rules. Yall should’ve talked with Disney/abc before doing this.”

“It would be like bribing the audience,” another reasoned. “Of course they aren’t allowed to do that. It’s a competition.” A different person chimed in, “I’m actually crying that yall didn’t realize this was obvious.”

Halloween Night is right around the corner, with Leavitt and Ballas set to perform a jazz routine to “Brain Stew” by Green Day on Tuesday.

Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, and streams the next day on Hulu.