After the voting round of the fourth week, both Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher live to see the next step in Dancing with the Stars. With bagging 105 points, Nedoroscik and his dance partner, Rylee Arnold, stand in the third position, tied with Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson. On the other hand, Maher and her dance partner Alan Bersten have avoided the axe of elimination by having 19 points more than Eric Roberts and Britt Stewart.

The rugby sevens player and her dancing partner are in 9th position. However, both Olympians are quite confident about soaring the following events riding on their scintillating performances in the ballroom. But do they know that they have already stepped into history? 

This is the 33rd season of DWTS. Coming to this level, the star-filled dance reality show has experienced several barricades. In 2022, one such barricade appeared in the shape of a dilemma regarding the broadcasting platform. In April 2022, the authority announced the shift of the show from ABC, its trademark broadcaster, to Disney+. That came as a blow, estimating the drop in the viewership.

But later, both ABC and Disney+ aired the show. Next year, that cooperation continued. But this time, ABC has brought it in a fresh wrap. But has it marked any effect on the viewership? As per the stakeholders, it has. On October 12, the Instagram handle of InsideGym shared an update on this subject.

The update frames Conrad Green’s words. In his statement, Green added that the number of viewers of DWTS has drastically increased. The EP of DWTS claimed, “The record number of votes that week suggests to me that a lot of our audience are very passionate about a lot of our stars this year. By those lines, he wanted to signify the vote count of the September 24 episode and the agents behind bringing the watershed moment in DWTS’ history. 

Reportedly, on September 24, the viewers opened the floodgates to vote for their favorite stars in DWTS. As far as the total numbers are concerned, the fan votes cruised past the 14 million count on that single day. The achievement stands as a milestone in the long history of DWTS. According to Green, the show’s representation has not changed dramatically this time. However, he believes that the inclusion of talents such as Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher is the true fundamental change. 

Since the first day of the 33rd season of DWTS, both Olympians have earned a lot of praise for their performances in uncharted territory—dance. The fans saw them at the Paris Olympics, keeping the American flag with their stellar performances. Whereas Nedoroscik helped his men’s gymnastics squad to win the team medal after 16 years, Maher played a dominant role in earning the bronze medal in the women’s rugby event.

Nonetheless, that was the first time Team USA left the platform with an Olympic medal. As a result, the duo achieved a special place in their fans’ hearts. Ultimately, that fandom has continued to DWTS as well. Per Green, “At core, as always, the cast is what defines the season.” That’s how the popularity has increased. However, it has always been on the cards. Isn’t it? 

Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher are earning praise for their dedication

In his statement, Conrad Green showered praise on the extraordinary lineup of DWTS this year. He especially adorned them with words like, “really likable” and “talented.” However, to reach such a position, Stephen Nedoroscik and Ilona Maher have invested their phenomenal efforts. Before moving to DWTS, Nedoroscik had thoroughly admitted his lack of expertise in dancing. In a further update, he noted that he would have to depend on his dance partner, Rylee Arnold, to learn one or two steps. Afterward, he had to go through a lot of grinding to learn the necessary steps. 

At one point in time, the two-time world champion even admitted to hurting his calves by trying distinct steps to keep his team’s chance alive in the show. However, he did not give up. Rather, in the third week, Nedoroscik and Arnold tried foxtrot, a hard dance routine, to attain a better score, and they succeeded in nabbing that.

Ilona Maher has had a similar experience. She shifted to DWTS after taking only one week off after the Paris Olympics. Since then, she has faced several ups and downs in the ballroom. In fact, in the third week, she broke into tears, letting her emotions out. But she has yet to give up. Now, the vote count shows that they have won their fans’ hearts yet again.