Last night, after much glitz and fanfare and sequins and kick-ball-changes, a winner was crowned on ABC’s 33rd season of Dancing with the Stars.
In the hearts of her legions of online fans, that winner was Olympic rugby player and social media sensation Ilona Maher. In reality, it wasn’t, but does that really matter?
Ilona Maher was the true embodiment of this season, imo. She was constantly improving, showed vulnerability and gained so much confidence. She empowered so many young girls and won the hearts of so many. I wish she won but she deserves all the flowers 👏🤍 <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/dwts?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#dwts</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/DWTS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#DWTS</a> <a href=”https://t.co/Tr5vdmiFP0″>pic.twitter.com/Tr5vdmiFP0</a>
—@efriebs
The hit series that pairs professional ballroom dancers with celebrities to compete in themed choreographed dance routines had a record-breaking season both in terms of viewership and votes cast.
Last night’s ratings haven’t yet been released, but the semifinal last week hit a season high of 5.19 million total viewers, as well as besting last year’s semifinal audience of 5.13 million. In addition, fan voting broke a series record by surpassing 20 million votes cast.
Even the season premiere in October saw the most votes ever received on a single episode in series history up to that point.
Not bad for a show in its 33rd season. And while we can’t say for sure what drove fans to tune into this year’s competition, Olympian Maher and her millions of Instagram and TikTok followers likely didn’t hurt.
“Ilona Maher was the true embodiment of this season, imo. She was constantly improving, showed vulnerability and gained so much confidence. She empowered so many young girls and won the hearts of so many,” wrote one fan on X.
“Inspired a nation twice in one year,” wrote Team USA on Instagram.
“This is forever an Ilona Maher stan account,” parenting news site Scary Mommy wrote on Instagram to their 2.6 million followers.
Maher very skillfully brought her fans into her private experience on the show by posting so many of her own videos, said Zorianna Zurba, a pop culture expert and assistant professor in the Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“So you enter it not as a fan of the show, but a fan of her personally. You enter into Dancing with the Stars as someone who wants to cheer her on.”
So who actually won?
In fact, the winners were Joey Graziadei — best-known for his stint as the Bachelor in the 28th season of the show — and his partner, dancer and choreographer Jenna Johnson.
“It means everything, this whole experience has been unbelievable,” Graziadei said after his win. “Thank you for bearing with us. I tried my best, I promise!”
Maher and partner Alan Bersten were the runners-up, coming in second.
Each couple performed a freestyle dance and a redemption dance. For redemption, Maher and Bersten performed a jive to Shake A Tail Feather by Ray Charles & The Blues Brothers. Graziadei and Johnson performed a cha-cha to Can’t Stop The Feeling! by Justin Timberlake — earning a perfect score.
How Maher flipped the script
U.S. rugby star Maher, 28, skyrocketed to social media fame during this summer’s Paris Olympics, where she won a bronze medal. She’s known for her quirky, comedic online presence as well as her advocacy for body positivity. She’s been dubbed “the queen of memes” on social media, where she’s posted countless reels about her Dancing with the Stars journey.
Maher was also the September digital cover model for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition, where she was called a “modern-day role model of strength, conviction and authenticity.”
Maher often flipped the script on traditional ideas of femininity throughout this season of Dancing with the Stars, sometimes opting not to wear ballroom heels, and often lifting Bersten in the air. For the show’s Disney-inspired episode, Maher dressed as strong-woman Luisa from Encanto.
And before the finale aired, she posted a video of herself eating a Trader Joe’s sheet cake to prepare.
Maher reminded us that dance is athletic, requiring strength, while also breaking down gender binaries, said Zurba, who is a dancer herself.
Instead of following traditional male and female partner dance roles, her dances reimagined them as the more modern leader and follower — and those can switch back and forth throughout, like a conversation.
“People can be ambi-dancerous,” Zurba said.
“The movement between two dancers doesn’t need to be gendered. It can be this fluid, beautiful thing.”
‘We won in many other ways’
And evidently this resonated with fans.
“I’ve never been a huge DTWS. Watched a few episodes but never been invested. I am 100% invested in @ilona_maher and her journey. She is absolutely the kind of role model I want for my kid and hell, for me,” a user wrote on X, saying she’d be tuning in for the finale.
During the show, Maher said winning the trophy would be nice, but it wouldn’t be so much for herself. “I think it’ll be for all the girls who’ve been told they’re too big or they’re too muscular and they’re not pretty,” she said.
After the show, Maher thanked her fans in an Instagram post.
“You voting is the reason we got to 2nd place. Of course, it’s no first, but honestly we won in many other ways.”
Ilona Maher said she used to be ashamed of her muscles. Now, she’s on the newest swimsuit cover of Sports Illustrated — an appearance that the magazine’s editor says ‘symbolizes a shift in the narrative.’