Ilona Maher acquired susceptible on Dancing with the Stars this week, and the Olympian has no regrets about it.
Maher is competing on season 33 of the hit competitors sequence with accomplice Alan Bersten, and he or she broke down in tears after getting just a little off-beat throughout her jive on the Oct. 8 episode.
Days later, the 28-year-old informed PEOPLE, “It felt very proper within the second.”
“I have been one who actually places issues in after which that was when it burst. In fact it was on nationwide tv, so enjoyable for me, however I additionally didn’t really feel unhealthy about it. I do not really feel unhealthy for crying,” she stated on the opening day of the Delta One Lounge at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport.
“I did not carry out how I knew I might and I did not wish to simply be like, ‘Oh, I am going to get it subsequent time,’ as a result of it was onerous,” she continued.
“I count on higher of myself and I do know I can do higher. And I feel it was simply additionally the whole lot coming to gentle, the whole lot coming collectively.”
Disney/Eric McCandless
Maher additionally stated that the demanding schedule for DWTS hasn’t helped her with the comedown from the emotional night time.
“Tuesday was a very robust night time after which as an alternative of — you’d like to have time to regroup — [but] I used to be again Wednesday. I used to be, at 11 a.m., doing an interview for Dancing with the Stars and I had coaching that subsequent day. So I’ll say it is robust as a result of I cried in all of the interviews, I cried at coaching. It is like I hadn’t gotten all of it out but. I feel it was nearly only a buildup of a lot taking place.”
The rugby participant — who gained bronze with the U.S. girls’s rugby sevens crew in Paris this summer time — stated that she needs she had a bit extra time for a “reset” earlier than shifting into week 5 of DWTS.
“It is type of attention-grabbing as a result of now it is like, ‘Okay, perhaps subsequent week you may do higher.’ So I do not know if I’ve totally reset, however I am simply going to attempt to, every day, take the moments that I can.”
Disney/Eric McCandless
In a video she shared as a joint publish with Bersten on Instagram after this week’s episode aired, Maher stated of her efficiency, “That was robust for me, however I’ve an ideal accomplice, and we’ve got subsequent week — they spooked us there, they spooked us just a little bit — however we’ve got subsequent week to enhance, so thanks all to your assist.”
“Please maintain voting, I’ll get higher, I swear,” she stated as she ended the video.
Bersten, 30, shared a post honoring his accomplice, too. “Phrases cannot describe how proud I’m of you. It takes a lot energy to be susceptible. You’ve gotten proven me simply how a lot you care and I’m so grateful to have you ever as my accomplice,” he wrote on Instagram. “You might be an inspiration to hundreds of thousands, particularly me.”
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Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+ and streams the following day on Hulu.
