Nobody screams “you go girl” quite like Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher, and her female empowerment was on full display during the finale of Dancing With The Stars Season 33 on Tuesday (Nov. 26).
Not only is Ilona an impressive athlete, she quickly became a social media sensation after the 2024 Paris Olympics as well, sharing a great number of TikTok videos that not only highlight her superb sense of humor, but also body positivity, female empowerment and more.
Becoming a finalist on Dancing With The Stars Season 33 — and securing a second-place finish — Ilona defied all the odds throughout the reality television series, breaking stereotype after stereotype and earning some impressive scores along the way.
Ilona’s scores are as follows:
In our opinion, Ilona’s freestyle routine to “Femininomenon” by Chappell Roan might go down in the Dancing With The Stars history books as one of the best to date, not because of its technicality, but because of its overall message of female empowerment.
While it did not earn her and her professional dance partner, Alan Bersten, the coveted Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy — as Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson brought home the bacon instead — it sent a strong message to women all across America, doubling down on said message during Good Morning America Wednesday (Nov. 27).
Keep scrolling for some strong final words from Ilona.
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‘You Can Be So Much More’
When asked if she has some final words for Dancing With The Stars fans — specifically female Dancing With The Stars fans — all across America, Ilona gushed:
“I think that you can be so much more than people put you in the box as. I’m an amazing athlete. I’m a very strong athlete, but I also felt like through this I could show that I’m a very beautiful dancer and an elegant dancer, and I can also be smart and whatever else I want to be.”
She continued by spilling the tea on her partnership with Alan, admitting to Good Morning America host Robin Roberts: “It’s been really fun… It’s been amazing. I think there’s no better partner than him.”
Naturally, fans had a field day with everything Ilona had to say, taking to the comment section of the above TikTok video:
“I love how she speaks about herself — no apology, no quiver, just confidence in who she is!!”
“They gained a lifelong fan outta meeeee”
“She is the people’s princess! 👑”
To witness Ilona’s freestyle for yourself, watch below, or stream the entire Dancing With The Stars Season 33 finale on Disney Plus or Hulu.
Dancing with the Stars is a popular dancing competition reality TV show airing on ABC and Disney+. The series features various celebrities who pair with professional dancers to compete in front of a panel of judges. The US version of the UK TV show Strictly Come Dancing premiered in 2005 and was originally hosted by Tom Bergeron for its first 28 seasons.
- Release Date
- June 1, 2005
- Main Genre
- Reality
- Cast
- Carrie Ann Inaba , Bruno Tonioli , Len Goodman , Tom Bergeron , Cheryl Burke , Tony Dovolani , Derek Hough , Mark Ballas , Karina Smirnoff , Maksim Chmerkovskiy , Kym Johnson , Sasha Farber , Val Chmerkovskiy , Emma Slater , Sharna Burgess
