Ilona Maher Makes Surprising Confession When Comparing ‘DWTS’ to Professional Rugby

The experience is putting the professional athlete to the test.

Ilona Maher / Disney/Getty Images

If you ask Ilona Maher about her experience on Season 33 of Dancing with the Stars, she won’t mince her words. The experience has been filled with ups and downs—the good, the bad and the ugly as they say.

Just about a month ago, she broke down on Hair Metal night following a series of missteps during her jive performance alongside partner Alan Bersten. Tears filled her eyes as she spoke to cohost Julianna Hough about the difficulty of performing. “This was a really tough dance for me, and this whole week’s been really tough,” Maher confessed. “And you do it so well in dress rehearsal, and then you come out and you mess it up. So it’s really hard. [Bersten’s] so good, and knows I can do well and then I just don’t.”

In the aftermath, her fans made their support for the two-time Olympian clear. Acknowledging their sweet messages on X, formerly Twitter, Maher made an honest admission about her experience on the show to date and her plans for the rest of the season. “Love you all. I’m okay,” she wrote. “Dancing is tough but I’ll keep working.”

In the month since she has done just that. As a professional athlete, Maher is used to hard work. She was never going to let one setback keep her from giving the show her all. Though she didn’t put on the best performance on Halloween Nightmares Night—during which she and Bersten finished in last place—she arrived at the 500th episode ready to redeem herself. And that she did. The pair earned their first 10 of the season for their Quickstep to “Chuck Berry” by Pharrell Williams.

Though the performance went smoothly, Maher can’t say the same of all of their rehearsals. In a comical practice clip that she shared to Instagram following the live performance, the pro athlete was hit in the face with a bunch of confetti as their dance came to an end. The experience forced an unexpected admission from the Paris bronze medalist: “Almost as tough as rugby @dancingwiththestars.”

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Though the admission arose following a comical mishap, there’s undoubtedly some truth to her sentiment. The experience has been a challenge for Maher, but she has approached it with her characteristic good attitude and fun-loving personality. We wouldn’t have expected anything less from her.

Maher, Bersten and the remainder of the couples left standing will return to the stage next Tuesday, Nov. 19.