The 33rd season of Dancing with the Stars kicked off in style last week, and with 13 fresh faces, it’s already buzzing with excitement! Among the standout contestants is none other than the 2024 Olympic bronze medalist in women’s rugby sevens, Ilona Maher. Not only did she step onto the dance floor for the very first time, but she also brought her Olympic fire to it. With her dancing partner Alan Bersten by her side, they rocked out to Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” in Episode 1. You just knew she was ready to compete!

Ilona’s dance debut wasn’t without its nerves—her strength was evident, but her flexibility? That took a bit of time. However, once she found her rhythm, she truly began to shine! The judges recognized her progress, awarding her a solid score of 18, which had Ilona beaming with joy. She was over the moon and couldn’t stop celebrating her achievement! Fans, along with Bersten, who previously won DWTS season 28 with former Bachelorette Hannah Brow, have been buzzing about her performance all week—and it’s just the beginning!

On a Lightweights Podcast episode with Joe Vulpis on September 20, Alan Bersten dropped in for a fun chat. Alan couldn’t stop raving about how Ilona’s energy just lights up a room. He even said, “she has such good energy about her that I feel like everyone wants to root for her.” Alan admitted that being her partner does come with a bit of pressure because he wants her to feel beautiful, confident, and fully herself on the dance floor.

Joe jumped in with a touching story, saying, “My wife cried watching her performance. it was so empowering for women she felt such a connection so attached to her.” It’s moments like these that highlight how much Ilona’s performances resonate with people. Alan couldn’t agree more. So he has kept certain things in mind while training Ilona.

“I’m like okay just make her feel good and let her be her cuz that’s what’s so good about her. She’s so genuine and like I don’t want to just make her be like a dancer and point your toe and do this. So I’m really trying to make sure that you know she comes out there and feels herself,” Alan said. With that in mind, Alan is literally taking it move by move, as he put it.

“I’m still getting used to what Alona is good at and so you know in 4 weeks down the line, hopefully we’re still there. I’ll be like, oh I know she can do this move. We’re still learning every move that it’s like okay let’s try this. If it doesn’t work that’s okay I got backup plan,” Alan explained, also adding that Ilona comes with the mentality of “I’m going to be the best.” Ilona, who helped the USA bring their first rugby medal in 100 years, also said the same about their training approach.

“Here’s the deal: We learn a step, and then we do that step 200 times. And then we add on a step, and then we do that step 200 times. Then, we just put the pieces together, and there’s so many little fixes. It’s like, ‘OK, now you did that right, but can you add the hand?’ ‘OK, you did this, the hand, right, but can you add this?’ So it’s, like, adding these pieces on this puzzle to make the [complete version],” Ilona said to Us Weekly. With all that, Alan has all the praise for Ilona.

“With Ilona, I’m having the best time. She’s awesome. Ilona is unlike any partner I’ve had in nine Seasons, you know, she is just so authentically herself. She’s awesome, she is a star,” an excited Alan said. On the other hand, Ilona is equally excited to pair up with Alan since she thought that Alan was “tough” on the partners. But at the same time, echoing Alan, Ilona also stated that the former allows her to express herself.

The Rugby player, who is the first of her kind to compete in the series, quipped that Bersten has “led” her to an environment that makes her feel “very feminine, womanly” on the ballroom floor. “I think it’s going to be good for girls to see a muscular, strong woman out there, like being feminine dancing with a gorgeous man like Alan here,” Ilona said to People.

But there is one more important side to her participation in DWTS. According to Ilona, it is a great confidence booster for “big, muscular women” like her in bringing out the feminine side in them. However, Ilona herself was not always on the right side of confidence while dealing with this reality.

Ilona Maher’s journey to dance for empowerment

The 28-year-old opened up to Entertainment Weekly about her dreams of winning Dancing with the Stars. She believes it could really spotlight how female athletes can crush it both on and off the field. “I think it’ll just show what I’ve been trying to say, which is female athletes are so much more than their sport, so much more than the stereotypes that they’re put in with the sport,” she said during a DWTS press line.

Ilona is all about celebrating the power and beauty of all body types, adding, “It’s so awesome to show what my body type can do, and how beautiful it can be in all sorts of spaces.” Her journey is all about breaking barriers and proving that women can shine in every spotlight and her goal. To celebrate and normalize diverse body types! Ilona is a big proponent of body positivity and never shies away to post videos of she being bullied for her muscular build.

“It’s just important for these girls to see me constantly out there showing that being big can be beautiful, and it doesn’t take away from your femininity in a way. Growing up, I had no athletes—except for Serena Williams—who looked like me and played a sport like me. I want to be somebody out there [so girls] don’t feel like they need to change,” Ilona had proudly said to the Women’s Health magazine.

Ilona thinks that her sport has already done a lot to drive away the not-so-nice comments she had to hear. The Vermont native said that before she joined rugby, she was thought of as a “big girl.” But upon joining a local rugby club, Ilona was “celebrated” for her body. Just months back, Ilona did not hold back from taking a social media user head-on for trying to troll her for her Body Mass Index (BMI).

A commenter had written that she had a body mass index (BMI) of 30. For context, A BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered in the overweight range, according to the Cleveland Clinic. A BMI of 30 and above is obese. On that occasion, Ilona went razor-sharp in her reply, as she wrote, “I think you were trying to roast me, but this actually is a fact. I do have a BMI of 30 — well, 29.3 to be more exact. I’ve been considered overweight my whole life.” Then, she returned the troll writing, “But alas, I’m going to the Olympics and you’re not!” 

So here goes the girl who is super proud of herself, making one more mark off the court after the Olympic trials. After all, not many with her body type can pull off a tango, or the rumba, or the cha-cha. So more power to the trailblazer!