WATCH: Ilona Maher dedicates her DWTS performance to her Rugby teammates as they cheer her on in an emotional reunion

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Oct 17, 2024 03:20 GMT

Olympic medalist rugby player Ilona Maher got a pleasant surprise at the 33rd season of the dance reality show 'Dancing with the Stars'. Maher had an emotional reunion with her rugby teammates, who cheered her on during her rumba performance.

Maher posted several stories on Instagram about her reunion with her teammates. She also posted a clip from her performance on her Instagram account, captioning it as:

"Proud of this one."

The Olympic medalist dedicated her performance to her rugby teammates, who were present there. One of her teammates, Sam Sullivan, got emotional after her performance, which gained buzz on social media. When asked about it, Maher replied on her X account,

"Sam Sullivan’s superpower is her ability to feel deeply and show emotion unfiltered."

The official Instagram page of 'Dancing with the Stars' also appreciated her dedication, as they posted some photographs of her performance on Instagram with the following caption,

"If it’s one thing, Ilona will always do it her way! 🙌 Gorgeous #DedicationNight Rumba to honor her rugby teammates. ✨ #DWTS"

Ilona Maher recently performed a Rumba sequence with her dancing partner Alan Bersten. The performance got them an impressive score of 32 out of 40, and the audience votes helped the pair proceed to the next round.

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When Ilona Maher broke down on 'Dancing with the Stars'

Ilona Maher performing at the 'Dancing with the Stars' [Image Source : Dancing with the Stars' Instagram]

After displaying her prowess in rugby sevens at the Paris Olympics, Ilona Maher has been impressing everyone with her dance performances at the 33rd season of 'Dancing with the Stars'. Despite multiple challenges, the Olympic bronze medalist has managed to proceed to the next round each time.

However, almost a week ago, Maher broke down after a performance on 'Dancing with the Stars'. She was performing at the 'Hair Metal Night' week and wasn't satisfied with her performance.

In her interview with Access Hollywood after the performance, the American rugby player opened up on what went wrong for her. She said,

"It’s learning to give myself grace that I’m doing something so new and so this is something that’s so out of my comfort zone, I’m not a dancer, I think I just want to give it my all so I got very sad that it wasn’t I guess good enough, maybe.”

Ilona Maher received two sevens and two sixes for her performance, making the total score 26 out of 40. However, thanks to the audience vote, Ilona Maher survived the fourth round and proceeded to the next week, where she impressed both the judges and the audience with her jive performance. The Olympic bronze medalist made it to the sixth round after she got the audience vote.