"You grow real friendships and real connections with these people," she shared, "and you learn so much about yourself and people who lift you constantly, and you challenge yourself, like, you just feel so loved."
Whitney also noted "some key takeaways" that she's gotten from her time in the competition that she's going to bring with her into her daily life now that she's no longer on the show.
As she noted, "It's so important to surround yourself with people who believe in you, who want to see you, achieve your delusional dreams, as cheesy as that sounds."
Finally, the reality star declared that she'll "forever be so grateful" for Mark and gushed about the friendship they developed during their time working together.
"I loved every bit of it," Whitney said, "but the one thing that I have loved the most that I wasn't expecting was getting a lifelong friend, a friend who who makes fart noises every single day. "I'm just so grateful. I love you guys. And I f–king love this show."
And while their elimination was a shock to many viewers, the mother of three and her partner had previously expressed that they weren't surprised by it.

As Mark told E! News' Will Marfuggi the night of the results, "We knew, we felt it. I think we just had a feeling."
Whitney echoed those sentiments, saying, "We had a gut feeling it was us."
Keep reading for more about this season of Dancing With the Stars…

Baron Davis
Partnered with Britt Stewart

Jennifer Affleck
Partnered with Jan Ravnik

Alix Earle
Partnered with Valentin Chmerkovski

Dylan Efron
Partnered with Daniella Karagach

Corey Feldman
Partnered with Jenna Johnson

Elaine Hendrix
Partnered with Alan Bersten

Robert Irwin
Partnered with Witney Carson

Jordan Chiles
Partnered with Ezra Sosa

Scott Hoying
Partnered with Rylee Arnold

Whitney Leavitt
Partnered with Mark Ballas

Hilaria Baldwin
Partnered with Gleb Savchenko

Andy Richter
Partnered with Emma Slater

Danielle Fishel
Partnered with Pasha Pashkov
