Ilona Maher Breaks Down in Tears After ‘Messing Up’ on ‘DWTS’

Ilona Maher got emotional during week 4 of Dancing with the Stars.

The Olympian rugby player joined partner Alan Bersten for the jive to Quiet Riot’s “Cum On Feel the Noize” during the Tuesday, Oct. 8 performance. 

During the Hair Metal night performance, Maher had a short hiccup that threw her off of her groove. After she and Bersten, 30, completed their dance, judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough acknowledged the professional athlete’s brief slip-up. 

Maher got emotional as they celebrated her efforts and recognized her missteps. Tonioli told her, “I love wild and wonderful, and I love to embrace it. But I’m sorry, my darling, you went wrong so many times. I appreciate that, but this is a dance competition very well. Everyone has to be treated equally, and if you make mistakes, you have points deducted. It takes nothing away from what you did. The attitude was perfect.”

Although Maher nodded in agreement, she then became teary-eyed. Inaba quickly checked in on her, and Maher jokingly replied that she’s “been better.” But Inaba reassured her and said, “I saw you get a little teared up. And I just want to say, like, as a woman, I like that because you’re so emotional. You’re so invested,” she said. “That’s why everybody’s rooting for you. That’s why we love watching you. “ 

The judge clarified that Maher fell off the beat and that recovery is “hard,” quickly telling the athlete, “You are amazing!”

Hough also propped up Maher and related to her athletic background. “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,” Derek reassured her.

“Just take this as a moment, to be like, ‘Hey, I was a little off time,’ ” he said. “I have no doubt [you’ll] come back and be fantastic.”

Once Maher and Bersten headed to speak with Julianne Hough, she became even more emotional.

“This is such a human moment right now. Everyone wants to know what’s going on right now,” said Julianne.

“This was a really tough dance for me, and this whole week’s been really tough,” Ilona confessed. “And you do it so well in dress rehearsal, and then you come out and you mess it up. So it’s really hard. [Bersten’s] so good, and knows I can do well and then I just don’t.

Bersten quickly consoled her and embraced her while telling her that her performance was “amazing.”

“As Alan is saying, you did amazing,” Julianne replied. “I think anyone out there can say it’s so hard when you don’t feel like you nail it, but you come back even stronger.”

The pair ended up with a score of 26/40 and survived the double elimination. Dancing with the Stars premieres Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, with the episode available to stream the next day on Hulu.