Witney Carson On The ‘Athlete Mentality’ Danny Amendola Brings To ‘Dancing With The Stars’

Before this season of “Dancing With the Stars,” ballroom pro Witney Carson didn’t know who Danny Amendola was.

“I remember calling my brother and saying, ‘Yeah, I have some football player, his name is Danny Amen-something?’ And he was just like, ‘Are you serious, Witney?’” she told HuffPost in a recent interview. “They were all just losing their minds.”

One thing she did know about getting paired with the onetime New England Patriots wide receiver on the reality dance competition show: It helps to have an athlete.

“They have a great track record on the show,” Carson said of the athletes who have competed for the mirrorball trophy. “Their commitment and work ethic is so great. And that’s true to Danny. He’s very, very committed, he works extremely hard.”

Amendola, a two-time Super Bowl champ, isn’t the only athlete who’s made it far this season. Reaching the semifinals with him are gymnast Steven Nedoroscik and rugby player Ilona Maher, along with actor Chandler Kinney and former “Bachelor” Joey Graziadei.

The football player and Carson had a strong enough showing out of the gate this season, scoring 20 out of 30 with a tango to “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey and landing in the middle of the leaderboard.

Carson said it took some time to suss out Amendola’s dancing strengths.

“I really wanted to push how athletic he was” in the third week, she said, when the pair danced a lively jive to “Danger Zone” in a “Top Gun” homage and Amendola emerged as a serious contender.

The buzz around the pair only grew louder the following week, when they delivered a moving contemporary performance to “Unsteady” by X Ambassadors. The dance featured a lift where Amendola pulled Carson up from the ground by one leg, which went viral after fans on social media tried to re-create it.

Carson pointed to both dances as a turning point in the season when “people were actually able to really be wowed by [Amendola], with his strength and his storytelling.”

Now in her 14th season with one mirrorball under her belt, Carson is ready to tackle any challenge on the show — but she admitted the “instant dances” last week, where each couple found out the song and dance style they would have to do live, made her “so nervous.”

For Carson, not knowing the music ahead of time was the hardest part.

“I didn’t know when it was going to end, where it was starting, all the musical cues that I’m so used to … I was having a very stressful week, and I think all the pros could agree with that,” she said, adding that she was “very proud” of all the celebrity contestants for getting through the dances.

Amendola, Carson said, is “always very positive” when it comes to preparing for new elements on the show.

“It’s like, accept the challenge, love the challenge, and demolish it and go for it,” she said. “And that’s how he approaches every situation.”

And the challenges will keep coming: Heading into semifinals week, Carson and Amendola are preparing a Viennese waltz and a salsa in hopes of a chance to vie for the mirrorball trophy.

“Going into the semifinals, it’s a little bit more pressure for me as the choreographer, just to keep providing wow factors for everybody,” she said. “I’m taking on the challenge like Danny kind of has instilled in my brain at this point and just really going for it because we really don’t have any other option. It’s really come down to the wire. Everybody’s very, very good. Anybody could go to the finale, anybody could win it, I think, at this point.”