Priscilla Presley was eager to cha cha out of the Dancing With the Stars ballroom.
“I could not wait to get kicked off that show,” Presley, 80, admitted during her Saturday, May 2, speaking engagement in Las Vegas. “I was so nervous because … my partner, who I liked very much, was in a new relationship with another guy.”
Presley was paired with pro Louis van Amstel during 2008’s season 6. They finished in eighth place.
“He was in a new relationship, and he wanted to get back home early,” Presley claimed. “He had a date, and he wanted to get this and that, and I was a little bit frustrated because he put that before us. I felt we could have done a lot better.”
According to Presley, she and van Amstel, 53, would only rehearse for DWTS three hours a day compared to other contestants’ six hours. Still, Presley had wanted to give her all on the dance floor.
“I like challenges,” she said on Saturday. “I didn’t know how to dance that well. I mean, I did like dancing, but I thought, ‘You know what, I’m gonna go in for it and do it, and I think it’ll be fun.’ Yeah, still nerve-wracking.”
Van Amstel, who married husband Joshua Lancaster in 2017 after eight years together, has not publicly addressed Presley’s accusations. Us Weekly reached out for comment.
The choreographer was one of the OG pros on DWTS, leaving the show for good after 2022’s season 31. He returned for the 20th anniversary special last fall for a special routine.
“There was no hesitation participating — same as 20 years ago when I got the call,” van Amstel exclusively told Us in November 2025. “Without hesitation, I said, ‘Yes, I’m interested.’ And that’s how I became the first pro to join Dancing With the Stars season 1.”
At the time, van Amstel even gushed about dancing with Presley.
“What an amazing woman, and [out of] all my celebrities, I see her the most,” he told Us. “We always have dinner when I come to Los Angeles, and what a quality woman [she is].”
Van Amstel, however, revealed that Presley’s season wasn’t his all-time favorite experience on the dance competition — that honor belongs to season 9 with Kelly Osbourne.
“That was a journey for the books,” he explained of Osbourne’s journey to the 2009 finale. “That not only affected her, but it also affected me profoundly. It affected so many people who watch the show. Her weight loss was secondary, but seeing her blossom from the ground up to a princess. I just love her and her family so much.”
