Who is Ilona Maher? What to know about the DWTS contestant, Olympian and social media star
Maher, an Olympic rugby player, social media star and 'Dancing With the Stars' contestant, has become a fan favorite heading into the semi-finals. She's also known for her stature and body positivity.
Olympian-turned-pop-culture-sensation Ilona Maher has taken the internet, and TV screens, by storm this year, capturing the minds and hearts of sports fans, dance lovers and social media users alike.
Originally known for playing center for the U.S. national rugby sevens team and helping to bring home the bronze from the 2024 Summer Paris Olympics, Maher gained a new level of stardom thanks to her presence online.
Showing she could flex her funny muscles along with her medal-winning ones, she amassed millions of followers thanks to her trendy, humorous posts and her advocacy for women in sports.
Now, with the "Dancing With the Stars" semi-finals arriving soon, Maher has her eyes set on yet another victory to round out 2024, this time with dance partner Alan Bersten at her side.
Here's what to know about Olympian and "Dancing With the Stars" semi-finalist Ilona Maher.
Who is Ilona Maher?
Ilona Delsing Rosa Maher is an American professional rugby union player. Now 28, Maher began her rugby career at the age of 17 playing for the South Burlington School Rugby Football Club in Burlington, Vermont.
After a brief stint at Norwich University, she was recruited to play at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, where her many accolades included three National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) championship wins, the prestigious MA Sorensen Award and Most Outstanding Player at the NIRA Championships.
She graduated in 2018 with a degree in nursing and received a master's in business administration from DeVry University in 2022.
She was recruited to the U.S. national rugby sevens team and made her debut in 2018 at a Women's SVNS tournament in Paris. She attended the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, during which the U.S. Women's Sevens team took home the bronze.
Ilona Maher's social media stardom
While at her first Olympic Games, Maher experienced her first taste of internet virality, gaining popularity for her social media posts. At the 2024 Olympics, her pop-culture stardom exploded as she amassed fans thanks not only to her humorous posts following the latest trends and memes, but also her clapbacks to body shaming and passion for body positivity and women's sports.
In one of her hyper-popular posts shared to TikTok on July 10, she addressed a comment criticizing her weight that said: "I bet that person has a 30% BMI," implying that Maher was overweight.
"I think you were trying to roast me but this is actually fact. I do have a BMI of 30. Well, 29.3, to be exact. I've been considered 'overweight' my whole life," Maher started her clapback, which amassed 8.4 million views.
After explaining the intricacies of BMI and sharing information from her dietician about how it is not a helpful measure for athletes, she finished: "I do have a BMI of 30, I am considered overweight. But alas, I'm going to the Olympics and you're not."
With dozens of TikTok posts averaging between 1.5 and 17 million views and a follower count of 3.1 million strong, Maher has also become a sweetheart on Instagram, where she has 4.3 million followers.
In September, Maher appeared in a swimsuit on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" with the tagline "Beast. Beauty. Brains."
During her "Dancing With the Stars" tenure, her posts have pivoted from behind the scenes at the Olympic Village to behind-the-scenes glimpses of her performances and practices with Bersten. The pair have become fan favorites, with many comments saying the duo inspired them to tune into the show for the first time in years.
Ilona Maher on "Dancing With the Stars"
As of this week, Maher and Bersten made it to the semi-finals. Besides leaning into their silly sides to win over personality votes, the dancing duo has also garnered attention for using Maher's stature to their advantage (she's 5 feet, 10 inches and weighs 200 pounds), pulling some gender-role reversals with lifts and other acrobatic moves usually performed with the male dance partner as the base.
Maher often flips Bersten over her shoulder or hoists him high in the air in impressive maneuvers, receiving extra praise for doing so in high heels. Besides trading flips and dips back and forth, the duo is also known for their deep friendship behind the scenes and explosive chemistry on stage.
Maher has received recognition not only for her improvement and technique throughout the season but also for sporting dazzling costumes that show off both her strength and athleticism and her beauty and femininity.
In one extremely popular dance for Disney night, Maher dressed up as "Encanto" character Luisa Madrigal, whose gift in the film is physical strength. Dancing to the character's song from the movie, "Surface Pressure," Maher's performance inspired viral fan reactions across the internet, with some saying they cried watching her performance while others thanked her for "doing it right for every little girl who just wanted to be strong AND beautiful!!"
In another performance that stirred reactions online and beyond, the pair Danced a Halloween-themed Tango, in which some steamy, sexy moments between the two caused fans to go all but feral online (seriously, read the comments at your own risk). Fans are fiending to see the two get together in real life, though Maher has assured viewers the two are just "besties" and "teammates."
How to watch Ilona Maher on "Dancing With the Stars"
Season 33 of “Dancing with the Stars” returns Tuesday, Nov. 18 for its semi-final episode. New episodes air at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+. They are available for streaming after the live shows end on Hulu.
Fans can vote at www.dwtsvote.abc.com or by text to 21523 when the live airing begins.