'DWTS' Pro Witney Carson Clicked With Partner Guillermo Rodriguez 'Right Off the Bat': 'He Wears His Heart on His Sleeve'

Witney Carson and her Dancing With the Stars partner Guillermo Rodriguez quickly found their rhythm in the ballroom.

The professional dancer exclusively tells OK! while discussing her partnership with Campbell's for Two Step Tuesdays, celebrating the brand's new sauces, that she and Rodriguez “definitely clicked right off the bat” before hitting the ballroom floor together for Season 35.

Carson, who returned to the competition following her Season 34 Mirrorball Trophy win, is also navigating rehearsals while pregnant with her third child.

"There's nothing that we've had to, like, really strategize or, like, force. Just everything has come so naturally, which I'm so grateful for, because a lot of partnerships, you don't really get that," Carson explains. "So I feel very fortunate."

The DWTS pro is entering the new season with a different mindset after feeling like she "really had to win" last season with her partner Robert Irwin. While Carson says she feels less pressure this time around, she remains determined to give the competition her all.

"It's tricky because, in a way, I feel less pressure, and in another way, I always feel pressure because deep down, it's, like, not in me not to do my absolute best and not kill it," she says.

"So every week, you know, I am taking it as if I'm not pregnant. I'm taking it as if I didn't win last season. I'm just doing my absolute best with the partner that I have," Carson adds.

As Carson continues to compete while pregnant, she's also making sure she listens to her body and gets the rest she needs.

"To be perfectly honest, I was just talking to the producers yesterday, just saying, like, you know, I really need to make sure I get enough rest this week," she admits. "And it just really [comes down to] listening to my body."

Carson admits the days leading up to the Season 35 premiere had been “a little bit of a strenuous week,” prompting her to be especially mindful of her health and the health of her baby.

"I feel like it was a little bit of a strenuous week, and so just making sure that I'm checking in with myself and being really cautious about the health of the baby, 'cause that's, like, the most important thing to me,” she states. “I think anything else is second to that."

"If I felt any which way of, like, I'm doing too much, I definitely, I don't feel afraid to voice that I need, you know, to be taken out of things or I need help with certain things," Carson notes. "So I'm definitely not afraid to do that."

She credits the DWTS producers with being supportive throughout her pregnancy.

"And the producers and everyone have been incredible and just willing to, like, you know, do anything that I need," Carson says. "And obviously they're worried about the health of the baby as well."

"I think that it's important to not lose yourself when you have babies and when you have families,” she mentions. "I don't think it's every woman's calling to be pregnant and work. It's really hard to do, but there's no reason that you would have to lose a part of yourself to keep growing your family."

"So I think it's important for me in my life, at this point in my life, to continue on my career because I love it," she continues. "I love to dance, and I love my kids and I love being a mom. So, you know, if I can do both, then that's what I'm going to do."

When Carson isn't rehearsing in the ballroom, she's focused on making family life as manageable as possible — including getting dinner on the table.

That's where her new partnership with Campbell's comes in. Carson is teaming up with the brand for Two-Step Tuesdays, celebrating Campbell's new sauces, which allow families to make a flavorful weeknight dinner in two simple steps: cook a favorite protein and add a can of Campbell's sauces.

For Carson, the partnership is especially nostalgic because of her childhood.

“I love to cook for my family,” she says. “I know some moms, they don't love that, but I don't get to do it very much because I am working so much and I'm traveling so much.”

Carson recalls that her mother always made sure the family had a hot meal, even when they didn't have much growing up.

“We didn't have very much growing up, but we always had a hot meal, and a lot of it was Campbell's — like, a lot of it. And so it's very nostalgic for me,” she reflects.

These days, Carson says she wants to spend time cooking with her family without spending hours in the kitchen.

“I just do not want to be in the kitchen for longer than an hour or longer than 45 minutes,” she shares. “You can do these dinners in 20 minutes or less, and they're so, so easy and so delicious.”

Her current favorite is the creamy lemon garlic sauce, which she recently made with chicken in a Dutch oven.

“The other night, two nights ago, I made the garlic lemon sauce, and I just did it in the Dutch oven with chicken, and it literally took 20 minutes and everyone gobbled it up,” Carson mentions. “It was so, so good.”

While Carson is interested in trying the brand's Thai curry sauce, she says her family is “kind of like a chicken family,” making the creamy lemon garlic sauce her current go-to.

“So the creamy lemon garlic is perfect for, like, satisfying my cravings,” she adds. “And then the boys, they just usually — they love chicken.”

With long rehearsal days and family time to balance, Carson says the simplicity is exactly what she needs.

“We love food. I love to cook. My family and I, we enjoy eating around the dinner table together, and we don't want to spend a lot of time cooking,” she concludes. “So we want a delicious meal very quickly.”