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Season 33 “Dancing With the Stars” competitor Ilona Maher has easily become of the most popular celebs on the show. Fans absolutely love her personality and have been voting to keep her in the competition week after week.
On Halloween Night, Maher and her ballroom pro partner Alan Bersten danced a tango and earned a 24 out of 30. This landed them on the bottom of the leaderboard. It seemed obvious that Maher and Bersten were in danger of being eliminated, but they managed to survive another week.
However, many DWTS fans expressed disappointment in Maher’s scores, feeling as though she improved and deserved 9s over 8s — at least. Her low scores could see her leaving the competition at the next elimination.
Some ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Fans Feel the Judges Were Unfair to Ilona Maher
On October 29, 2024, pro Emma Slater posted a couple of photos from the night on her Instagram feed.
“DANG!!! Is this not the BEST #DWTS EPISODE EVER?!!! Wow!! What do you think??!!! Halloween week for the TROPHY,” her caption read. Quite a few fans took to the comments section to weigh in and many couldn’t help but mention Maher’s scores.
“Just wondering why Ilona was scored the way she was when it was a beautiful dance. And not trying to be mean bc the other dances were good too but some not 10 worthy in my opinion,” one person wrote.
“They underscored Ilona! Other then that great show,” someone else added.
“So good but Ilona was underscored!!!” a third comment read.
“All of these dances have been on the top!! Ilona was underscored imo,” a fourth Instagram user said.
Alan Bersten Said Ilona Maher’s Scores on Halloween Night Were ‘Harsh’
After making it through another elimination, Bersten talked to the press about Halloween Night.
“I think we were working on so many things this week, and Ilona really did focus on all of them,” he told Us Weekly. “[The judges] were a little harsh with the scores, in my opinion, but they’re judges and that’s the point. We’re here to learn and we’re going to keep growing,” he continued.
“We’re here to learn and we’re going to keep growing. So next week, we’re going to make sure to take heel steps. That is going to be priority number one. But I am so proud of Ilona because her frame was amazing. Her head actions were amazing. Her sharpness, her legs, everything was so pristine. I’m so glad and I’m so proud of her. I’m so grateful that we’re still here. Thank you to the fans,” he added.
In an interview with “Good Morning America,” Maher admitted that it was “disappointing” to find herself at the bottom of the leaderboard.
“I’m so happy the fans really came through because I do want to be in this competition and I think Alan and I don’t want to cut our time short. Like, we want to go as far as we can. We’re having so much fun,” she added.
Bersten also talked to the outlet admitting that he and Maher “cried a lot before the elimination” because they were afraid their names would be called.
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