What you need to know about ‘Dancing With the Stars’ favorite Ilona Maher

On By Littum

Maher, an Olympic rugby player, social media star and ‘Dancing With the Stars’ contestant, has become a fan favorite heading into the semi-finals. She is also known for her stature and body positivity.

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Olympic pop culture sensation Ilona Maher has taken the internet and TV screens by storm this year, captivating sports fans, dance lovers and social media users alike.

Maher, originally known for playing center for the US rugby sevens team and for helping to claim bronze from the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, gained a new level of stardom thanks to his online presence.

Showing she could flex her funny muscles alongside her medal-winning ones, she amassed millions of followers thanks to her trendy, humorous posts and her advocacy for women in sport.

Now, with the “Dancing With the Stars” semifinals soon to arrive, Maher has his eyes set on another win that rounds out 2024, this time with dance partner Alan Bersten by his side.

Here’s what you need to know about Olympian and “Dancing With the Stars” semifinalist Ilona Maher.

Who is Ilona Maher?

Ilona Delsing Rosa Maher is an American professional rugby union player. Now 28, Maher began his rugby career at the age of 17, playing for the South Burlington School Rugby Football Club in Burlington, Vermont.

After a short stay at Norwich University, she was recruited to play at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, where her many accolades included three National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) championship wins, the prestigious MA Sorensen Award and Most Outstanding Player at the NIRA Championships.

She graduated in 2018 with a degree in nursing and received a master’s degree in business administration from DeVry University in 2022.

She was recruited to the US national rugby sevens team and made her debut in 2018 at an SVNS women’s tournament in Paris. She participated in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where the American women’s heptathlon team won the bronze.

Ilona Maher’s social media stardom

While at her first Olympic Games, Maher experienced her first taste of internet virality and became popular for her posts on social media. At the 2024 Olympics, her pop culture stardom exploded as she gathered fans not only thanks to her humorous posts following the latest trends and memes, but also her relapse into body shaming and passion for body positivity and women’s sports.

In one of her hyper popular posts shared with TikTok on July 10, she addressed a comment criticizing her weight saying, “I bet that person has a BMI of 30%,” implying that Maher was overweight.

“I think you were trying to roast me, but it’s actually a fact. I have a BMI of 30. Well, 29.3, to be exact. I’ve been considered ‘obese’ all my life,” Maher started his round of applause, which amassed 8.4 million views.

After explaining the intricacies of BMI and sharing information from her dietitian about how it’s not a useful metric for athletes, she concluded: “I have a BMI of 30, I’m considered obese. But alas, I’m going to the Olympics and that aren’t you.”

With dozens of TikTok posts averaging between 1.5 and 17 million views and a following of 3.1 million strong, Maher has also become a darling on Instagram, where she has 4.3 million followers.

In September, Maher appeared in a swimsuit on the cover of “Sports Illustrated” with the slogan “Beast. Beauty. Brains.”

During her “Dancing With the Stars” tenure, her positions have ranged from behind the scenes in the Olympic Village to glimpse behind the scenes of her performances and rehearsals with Bersten. The pair have become fan favourites, with many commenters saying the duo inspired them to tune into the show for the first time in years.

Ilona Maher on “Dancing With the Stars”

As of this week, Maher and Bersten made it to the semi-finals. In addition to leaning into their goofy sides to win personality votes, the dance duo has also gained attention for using Maher’s stature to their advantage (she’s 5 feet, 10 inches and weighs 200 pounds), pulling off some gender role reversals with lifts and other acrobatic movements are usually performed with the male dance partner as a base.

Maher often flips Bersten over his shoulder or hoists him high into the air in impressive maneuvers, earning extra praise for doing so in high heels. Besides trading flips and dips back and forth, the duo is also known for their deep friendship behind the scenes and explosive chemistry on stage.

Maher has received acclaim not only for her improvement and technique throughout the season, but also for sporting dazzling costumes that showcase both her strength and athleticism and her beauty and femininity.

In one extremely popular dance for Disney nightMaher dressed as “Encanto” character Luisa Madrigal, whose gift in the film is physical strength. Dancing to the character’s song from the film “Surface Pressure”, Maher’s performance inspired viral fan reactions across the internet, with some saying they cried watching her performance, while others thanked her for “making it right for every little girl who just wanted to be strong AND beautiful!!”

In another performance that sparked reactions online and beyond, the pair Danced a Halloween themed tangowhere some steamy, sexy moments between the two had fans going almost wild online (seriously, read the comments at your own risk). However, fans are eager to see the two meet in real life Maher has assured viewers the two are just “besties” and “teammates”.

How to Watch Ilona Maher on “Dancing With the Stars”

Season 33 of “Dancing with the Stars” returns on Tuesday, Nov. 18 for its semifinal episode. New episodes are broadcast at 8 PM ET/PT on ABC and Disney+. They are available for streaming after the live shows end on Hulu.

Fans can vote at www.dwtsvote.abc.com or text to 21523 when the live broadcast begins.