Mark Ballas‘ partner is waltzing in to save the day.
The Dancing With the Stars pro tapped his wife of 10 years BC Jean—real name Brittany Jean Carlson—to play a major role in his first performance with celebrity partner Maura Higgins during the Sept. 16 episode of the ABC show.
Indeed, Mark had the “I’ll Survive You” singer perform the pair’s chosen song “Black Velvet”—originally recorded in 1989 by Alannah Myles—live on stage after their original collaborator, musician Travis Garland, got tied up with an appearance on America’s Got Talent.
“He couldn’t be here, and you know, ‘Black Velvet’ is a rock song,” Mark exclusively told E! News’ Will Marfuggi after the premiere. “So then they were like, ‘Would your wife do it?’ I was like, ‘I’ll ask her,’ and she had a day to learn it.”
As he put it, “She pulled up. So, it was great to have.”
In a video shared to Instagram Sept. 16, Maura, 35, and Mark, 40, playfully called after Travis as he walked away from them on set of the dance competition series.
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Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Cast
“Travis, I thought you were gonna sing for us??” a quote read atop the clip, to which Travis replied, “I can’t bro.. I’m in the semi finals of AGT!!!”
The camera then cut to BC strutting into the frame while donning a fabulous pair of oversized shades. Atop the footage of the 39-year-old, Mark wrote, “Good thing my wife is a BADASS Rock singer.”
He added in the caption, “Calling in reinforcements. Can’t wait to dance tonight while my wife @bcjean sings for us.”
And BC wasn’t the only one who brought her A-game when it came time to step onto the stage. In fact, Maura became the first female celebrity this season to earn a seven paddle from all three judges: Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli.
“You foxy traitor. So seductive. So enticing,” Bruno said of the Traitors star’s debut routine. “The movement on week one, I’ve never seen something like that. Of that level of quality.”
“That was mesmerizing,” Carrie Ann echoed. “You told that story not only with your upper half but with your whole body. That was wonderful.”
For more behind-the-scenes secrets about Dancing With the Stars, keep reading.
ABC/Paula Lobo
However, Bobby Bones said he made more than this when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.
“That show pays OK,” the radio personality said on a Sept. 2025 episode of Jason Tartick’s podcast Trading Secrets. “Like, first episode, no money. Second episode, $10,000. I think it’s like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, $20,000. It ends up being $50,000 an episode if you last.”
Also receiving a base salary of around $110,000, Bones continued, “I ended up making close to $400,000 from that show.”
ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.
But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they’re not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.
“You’re guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks,” Jenna Johnson said on a June 2025 episode of Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester’s podcast The Morning After. “I think there’s different contracts though. I can’t speak for everybody.”
While Johnson—who won season 26 with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, as well as season 33 with The Bachelor’s Joey Graziadei—says the pros don’t get a larger paycheck if they take home what is now called the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, she noted there’s still an incentive to make it to the finale (besides bragging rights, of course).
“If you make it all the way to the end, you’re getting paid the whole season, which is amazing, and you get a bonus on top of that for making it to the finale,” she explained on The Morning After. “If you win, it’s not like you win a $1 million and split it with your partner. You’re just getting a cute trophy together.”
On a 2022 episode of Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold recalled how her salary was cut “more than in half” when she was demoted from pro to troupe member.
“You get no say,” Lindsay said on a May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers’ Hot Smart Rich podcast. “It’s very much just, ‘Here’s your partner. Make it work.'”
In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.
“They really want to keep it a secret until you meet them live,” Jenna said on The Morning After. “They want that genuine reaction. So I think people always think we know who we have and we’re keeping it a secret. Absolutely not. They do not tell us. They really don’t even want us to know the cast. It gets leaked a lot, but they want it very hush-hush until you walk in and meet your partner.”
As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?
“It’s based on height, build and personality and compatibility,” former showrunner Rob Wade told E! News in 2015. “We don’t pair people who aren’t going to get on. It’s too intense. It’s not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn’t do that. That would just be miserable experience for the celebrity, for us and the viewer. You don’t want to see two people who don’t like each other and, quite frankly, we have made that mistake pairing people up who didn’t get on so well.”
