Olympian Ilona Maher was nervous about performing on Dancing With the Stars for the first time — especially when it came to receiving her first score.
“I’m going to have to watch their feedback back because I blacked out,” Maher, 28, exclusively told Us Weekly following the premiere of DWTS on Tuesday, September 17.
Although Maher didn’t quite get all the feedback, her partner, Alan Bersten, took some notes for her sharing that Derek Hough mentioned “how much confidence” she has and how he wants to see more of that in her dancing. (The pair scored 18/30 for their Cha Cha to “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” by Shania Twain.)
“I think the big thing is when we’re practicing, it’s different in rugby in that you’re performing when you’re practicing,” she explained to Us. “So when I’m practicing, even learning the steps, he wants me to smile and perform and have fun, whereas in rugby when I’m practicing, I’m like, ‘Alright, just do this.’ It doesn’t matter what my face looks like. So I think that’s what I have to get better at.”
The two-time Olympian noted that her first night performing was “so exciting” despite all the nervousness.
“I’m so happy we just did it,” she shared. “I think we’re been practicing for a while, and I’ve always been someone who likes to practice, but I love game time, and I love doing it. So this is just so fun, and I think it’ll just get better and better.”
Since Maher just came back from the Paris Olympics, where she took home the bronze medal for rugby, she admitted she wasn’t “that sore” after her first DWTS practice.
“I’ve been running. I’ve been working out. … Alan and I worked out recently. We did an assault bike workout. And that was the sorest I’ve ever been,” she shared with Us, adding that her feet hurt though and she’s been getting blisters from dancing.
“So I’ll always remember my time in dance,” she joked.
While practicing, Maher and Bersten, 30, who has been a DWTS pro for five seasons, hit it off quickly after bonding over working out — and bagels in New York.
“Brooklyn Bagels was unbelievable. I did it for her. That was the first bagel I had in, like, five minutes,” Bersten joked.
Alan Bersten and Ilona Maher Disney/Eric McCandless
Maher noted that they connected over food and then “over working out and being strong.”
“I think having a partner who also encourages me to be strong and really use my body, it’s been great,” she added.
With reporting by Carly Konsker
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