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Ilona Maher recently lauded her dance partner, Alan Bersten, for his sweet gesture while rehearsing for Dancing With the Stars. The rugby player concluded her 2024 season after competing at the Paris Olympics.
Maher etched her name in the history books after bringing the first-ever Olympic medal for the USA in rugby. She competed with the Australian team in the bronze medal match and defeated them with a score of 14-12. This was her comeback from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics performance, where she and her team finished sixth after being bested by Australia.
Currently, the player is competing in Dancing With the Stars and recently performed in the 500th episode of the show. Just a few days after the performance, Ilona Maher shared a video on her Instagram story where her dance partner, Alan Bersten, was seen putting the grips of Maher's dancing shoes amidst their rehearsal for the show.
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"Get yourself a partner who puts the grips on for you. Real man over here. Thanks, Alan; thank you so much. I would probably not be able to do it on my own because it looks so difficult," Ilona Maher said.
The story's caption read:
"@alanbersten the best partner."
Ilona Maher opened up about competing at Dancing With the Stars
In an interview with PEOPLE magazine, Ilona Maher opened up about the time when she was offered to join the 33rd season of DWTS. She revealed that she knew it was going to be hard for her, and she was out of her comfort zone.
"I knew how hard it was going to be. I was not fooling myself that this would be an easy time," Maher said. "I was like, 'Okay, I want to do it, but I'm very scared to do it because I'm completely out of my comfort zone."
Along with this, she also spoke about her dance partner, Alan Bersten, and revealed that she thought it was okay for him to be frustrated by him:
"I keep telling him it's okay to be frustrated with me, seriously. I would be too if I can't figure out what's happening."
Ilona Maher, after facing adversities, has now reached the semi-finals of the show and recently received the first 10 of her season in the 500th episode of the show. The rugby player rose to fame after the Paris Olympics, where she was placed 30th overall in terms of individual scores during the women's rugby tournament.
