Witney Carson is lacing up her dancing shoes and heading back to the ballroom for Dancing With the Stars season 33.
“Hey guys, I am back on Dancing With the Stars and I cannot wait to get back on that dance floor,” Witney, 30, gushed in an Instagram video shared on Thursday, August 29. “Just you wait until you meet my partner, you guys are gonna die.”
Witney had been a pro on DWTS since 2013, eventually taking home the mirrorball trophy with now-host Alfonso Ribeiro in season 19. Witney opted to take season 32 off following the birth of her and husband Carson McAllister’s second son. In that time, the couple moved from Utah to Florida with kids Leo and Jett.
“I was so scared of this huge change because it’s not just that I didn’t have my family; I was postpartum and just trying to get in the swing of things,” Witney exclusively told Us Weekly in April of the move. “But I knew it was the right [move] so I pushed through and I’m so grateful that my husband was there with me to help bring it all together.”
While Witney and her husband were initially searching for a seaside vacation home, they fell in love with a property in Orlando.
“My [father-in-law’s] name was Kevin Leo and ever since he passed away, every symbol of a lion we’d find reminded us of him,” Witney recalled to Us. “The first thing we saw on the doors of the house were two lion heads and then the realtor was like, ‘Yeah the owners love lions’ so you’re going to see a lot of them in here.’ We bought the house that week. Now we’re finally settled and excited to create memories here.”
For DWTS, Witney will need to temporarily relocate to Los Angeles for filming. None of the other pros have been announced yet but they were all thrilled to see the So You Think You Can Dance alum will be returning to the ballroom.
Brandon Armstrong’s wife, Brylee Armstrong, echoed Gleb’s sentiment, writing, “Yay Wit!!! The ballroom isn’t the same without you ❤️.”
Other pros including Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy are also hopeful that they’ll make the final roster.
“I can’t confirm anything, but with my whole heart, I would love to be back,” Jenna, 30, told Us in May. “The show has been a dream come true for myself [and] my family. It’s really what I love to do. I thrive on performing, I thrive on teaching. Nothing fulfills me more than on Monday nights when the countdown goes, ‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1,’ and you are live on air. There’s nothing like that feeling. So, I would love to be back.”
Witney’s longtime friend and fellow DWTS pro Lindsay Arnold, however, will not return this year, telling her TikTok followers earlier this week that she is content skipping out on another season. (Lindsay, 30, also sat out season 32 after welcoming her second child.)
The star-studded cast of DWTS season 33 also has not been revealed aside from Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, who went viral in July for his bronze-medal-winning pommel horse routine.
Dancing With the Stars season 33 premieres on ABC Tuesday, September 17, at 8 p.m. ET.