Danielle Fishel is setting the record straight about what many thought was an awkward moment with Whitney Leavitt on Dancing With the Stars Episode 3.

At the end of the show’s Tuesday, September 30 episode, Fishel and Leavitt were seen talking as the cast supported Lauren Jauregui and Brandon Armstrong after their shocking elimination. As the credits rolled, Leavitt seemed to celebrate that she and her partner, Mark Ballas, were safe another week, but quickly changed her excited expression to a straight face after being told something by Fishel.

“Everyone feeling upset for Lauren and Brandon meanwhile Whitney is trying to celebrate moving forward with Danielle 💀,” one X user captioned a clip of the moment. “You can clearly see Danielle tell her it’s not the time and Whitney goes back to pretending to feel bad 😂.”

Another X user wrote, “Danielle Fishel putting Whitney Leavitt in her place after Whitney tries to celebrate making it to another week 😂😂.”

TMZ questioned Fishel about the interaction as she left DWTS practice on Wednesday, October 1. When asked if she “put Whitney in her place,” the actress responded, “No.”

Everyone feeling upset for Lauren and Brandon meanwhile Whitney is trying to celebrate moving forward with Danielle 💀you can clearly see Danielle tell her it’s not the time and Whitney goes back to pretending to feel bad 😂 #dwts pic.twitter.com/qPskPHHxom

— Bravoholic (@Bravoholic16) October 1, 2025

Fishel explained, “It’s a roller coaster of emotions. We can be happy for ourselves and our friends that were safe and also sad that somebody is gone. So, I definitely did not put her in her place, but I just went to go comfort my friend.”

The Boy Meets World star later reacted to Jauregui’s surprise elimination in an interview with Page Six posted on Thursday, October 2. “I never, ever, would have suspected that Lauren was going home, and I’m bummed about it,” Fishel stated. “I really love Lauren. I love watching her perform. She has got — first of all, her face is just a work of art. And she’s expressive and she is graceful and she’s fun, and she’s all those things as a person, too. And I really enjoyed the moments that we’ve passed each other in the halls and been able to give each other a hug and have been rooting for each other.”

She concluded, “It’s just, it’s really very shocking, and it’s hard. It’s hard.”

Jauregui and Armstrong scored 18 out of 30 points for their cha-cha-cha to Fifth Harmony‘s “Work From Home” on Tuesday, tying them at the bottom of the leaderboard with Andy Richter and Emma Slater. Despite landing near the top of the rankings during the past two episodes, the pair were ultimately sent home. In response to the elimination, Jauregui stated that she was “pissed.”

“I mean, they asked me how I was feeling in the moment, and that’s how I was feeling in the moment,” Jauregui exclusively told TV Insider of her reaction. “I’m feeling just emotional about the whole thing.”

The singer added, “I feel like I had a lot left to give the show, and I just wish that I would have had the opportunity to do that especially because I was working with Brandon. We were going to keep progressing. That was our strategy. It’s sad not to be able to do that.”

Dancing With the Stars, Season 34, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC and Disney+ (Streaming Next Day on Hulu)

For a more extended celebration of two decades of Dancing With the Stars, from exclusive interviews to retrospectives and must-see photos, pick up a copy of TV Guide Magazine’s Dancing With the Stars 20th Anniversary special issue, available for purchase online at DWTS.TVGM2025.com and on newsstands now.