Shirley Ballas and Carlos PenaVega got 'in a fight backstage' on Dancing with the Stars
Alexa PenaVega says Carlos PenaVega threw a tantrum backstage on Dancing with the Stars after she and her professional dance partner, Mark Ballas, were eliminated, leaving Shirley Ballas caught in the crossfire.
Carlos PenaVega got "in a fight backstage" with Shirley Ballas on Dancing with the Stars in 2015, according to his wife Alexa PenaVega.
The couple competed in the same series of the ABC Latin and ballroom dance show, and Carlos was so heartbroken when the actress and Mark Ballas, Shirley's son, were eliminated in week nine that he threw a tantrum behind the scenes, leaving the Queen of Latin caught in the crossfire.
Alexa and Carlos, who finished in fourth place that season with his professional partner Witney Carson, recalled the incident on the latest episode of their LexLos podcast.
Remembering his reaction to the Spy Kids star and Mark getting eliminated, the Big Time Rush alum admitted: "I cried my little butt off. I was such a little baby."
Carlos, now 37, lost his temper backstage after the episode finished.
Alexa, now 38, laughed: "The best moment is, after I get eliminated, Carlos and Shirley Ballas, who is Mark’s mother… get in a fight backstage because she goes, 'Are you happy? Semi-finals?'"
In unison, the couple said his response to Shirley: "No, I’m not happy! My wife just got eliminated!"
On reflection, Carlos regrets that the TV personality, now 66, was suddenly caught in the crossfire.
The Grease Live! cast member said of Shirley: "She’s actually sweet. It was bad timing for me... she wasn’t trying to be mean."
However, the tense moment is something Carlos cannot leave behind, as it has become an inside joke between him and Alexa.
She revealed: "It’s something we say ... all the time now."
Impersonating Shirley, she added: "Are you happy?"
Alexa comforted Carlos after it was announced that she and Mark, now 40, were eliminated, and the Twister entertainer, however, still regrets not offering the same comfort to her own dance partner.
She admitted: "Looking back now, even watching our elimination, it made me sad for Mark. I was so worried about catering to you and your feelings, I left Mark in the dust over and over again."
Alexa also claimed that Mark and Witney, now 33, had a secret feud on Dancing with the Stars in 2015.
She explained: "At the time, Witney and Mark were not getting along at all.
"So they refused to be in the same room together, and that was really hard because we’re married and the whole point [of being on DWTS] was we’re gonna do this together as much as possible... We thought we’d be rehearsing in the same room and now we have to be so separate.
"We have to dance around whatever’s going on with them.”
Carlos said of Mark: "He’s very creative, and he wants to do things outside the box, which require a lot of work. Listen, I had a great work ethic with Witney. She put up with a lot ’cause it was really hard, but we had a lot of fun."
It was recently confirmed that Shirley is hopping across the pond to join Dancing with the Stars as a guest judge, while juggling her duties on its UK counterpart Strictly Come Dancing.
Her move comes hot on the heels of her stint judging spin-off Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro alongside Mark, who is paired up with The Traitors USA's Maura Higgins, 35, on the current series of the main show.
