Why Ilona Maher burst into tears on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

During the second episode of back-to-back “Dancing with the Stars” episodes this week, contestant Ilona Maher — a rugby player on the U.S. women’s rugby team that won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics — broke down into tears after making mistakes in her dance.
This week’s episodes were on Monday, Oct. 7, and Tuesday, Oct. 8. Monday was “Soul Train Night” and Tuesday was “Hair Metal Night,” per Today.
Both episodes featured guest judges: Monday had Rosie Perez and on Tuesday, Gene Simmons joined the panel.
The episode on Tuesday ended with the season’s second double elimination.
For Tuesday’s episode, Maher and her partner, Alan Bersten, performed a jive to “Cum On Feel the Noize.”
During the performance, Maher had a brief slipup that threw off her groove for the rest of the dance. As she talked to the judges and hosts after the dance, her eyes filled with tears.
“Dancing with the Stars” judge Carrie Ann Inaba said Maher had a moment where she went off tempo during the dance, making it hard to recover and get back on track, according to Newsweek.
While waiting to receive scores, Maher opened up to host Julianne Hough, “This was a really tough dance for me, and this whole week’s been really tough. And you do it so well in dress rehearsal, and then you come out and you mess it up. So it’s really hard.”
The judges gave her point deductions and criticized that specific dance, but they also showered Maher with support and praise for who she is, per People.
“You’re a competitor. When things go wrong on the field, you sort of regroup and come back next week, and you come up strong,” said judge Derek Hough.
After the episode, Maher posted on X to reassure her fans she was doing alright.
After “Soul Train Night” on Monday and “Hair Metal Night” on Tuesday, two of the remaining 11 couples on “Dancing with the Stars” were sent home.
The judges’ scores and audience votes from Monday and Tuesday were combined to decide the elimination, per Today.
The two contestants eliminated this week were actors Reginald VelJohnson and Eric Roberts.
Acording to Forbes, VelJohnson and his partner Emma Slater performed a foxtrot to “I Can See Clearly Now” on Monday, receiving a 21 out of 40.
The pair’s performance of a cha-cha to “I Wanna Rock” on Tuesday received a 21 out of 40.
On Monday, Roberts and his partner Britt Stewart performed a foxtrot to “Let’s Stay Together,” which he dedicated to his wife and received a 24 out of 40.
Tuesday’s performance of a paso doble to “Cherry Pie” earned a 22 out of 40, per Forbes.
Because both episodes this week had a guest judge, the scores for each episode were out of 40.
Here is a list of scores for each of the remaining contestants on “Dancing with the Stars” this week, per Sporting News:
The next episode of “Dancing with the Stars” will air on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. MDT, and it will be dedication week, where each contestant dedicates their song and dance to someone.
That episode will also feature a performance from judge Derek Hough and his wife Hayley Erbert, per Entertainment Weekly.
Mark Ballas, a former pro on the show, will be appearing as a guest judge next week.