Dancing With the Stars' 31st season was full of highs and lows for Mark Ballas.
Though he took home the Mirrorball Trophy with Charli D'Amelio in 2022, the 39-year-old and his wife BC Jean also suffered a tragic loss during the competition.
"During that season, we found out my wife was pregnant and we ended up losing our baby before the semifinal," Mark shared during the Nov. 26 episode of Call Her Daddy. ""I had to leave her having the appointment to have the baby removed to come dance for the semifinal and then go on. That had just taken it out of me."
Indeed, the couple shared on social media the following year that "just when we thought we were in a good place to tell friends + family, we received the heavy news that our little one wasn't going to make it. We've been through hard times in our lives, but this was a different kind of sadness.”
Compounded with "body injuries" he was suffering from at the time, the three-time DWTS champion said he came out of the experience ready to retire from dancing altogether. It was only when his son Banksy was born in 2023 that Mark decided otherwise.
"I'm not going to be dad who's like, 'I used to be a dancer,'" he told host Alex Cooper. "So, I was really diligent about getting in shape, working hard, getting into it. My body started feeling good again."
And while Mark understood that his body "will never be perfect again," he felt his time on DWTS wasn't done. That's why he returned to the ABC dance series for its 34th season, during which he was partnered up with Whitney Leavitt.
"We kind of hit it off pretty quickly," Mark said during their joint appearance. "We had fun and like we laugh a lot. We roast each other all day, which is fun for me. I love the banter."
But despite being consistently one of the top scorers, he and Whitney were eliminated in the semifinal round on Nov. 18.
And for the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star, one of the hardest parts of her run was saying goodbye to Mark.
“It’s sad, it does feel like a breakup because you build long-lasting friendships here with production, crew—obviously with Mark,” she told E! News following her exit. “You spend so much time with these people every single day, so it does feel like a breakup. I’m sad, but also I’m leaving with just a grateful heart, to have been able to experience it.”