Ilona Maher Talks Alan Bersten's Tough Teaching on DWTS Season 33 (2025)

Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten made it all the way to the season 33 finale of Dancing With the Stars, but was their connection instant?

“I was very excited you were my partner,” Bersten, 30, told Maher, 28, during the Tuesday, April 15, episode of her “House of Maher” podcast.

Maher recalled being very “excited” to be partnered with Bersten as well, but she was worried about her own skills and his teaching techniques.

“I knew it was going to be hard,” she recalled. “I had heard rumors you could be tough on your partners. I was like, OK. I wasn’t scared of that though, I was like, ‘Perfect.’”

Before Bersten was announced as her partner, Maher watched his past seasons to get a feel for his style.

“I remember thinking, ‘This guy’s very animated,’” she told her listeners. “I wasn’t sure if that was all a front. This guy could be really animated on the show and then not fun actually.”

Luckily, the rugby player learned firsthand that Bersten was just as he appeared. “It was this whole thing of, ‘Oh, It’s Alan, I’m so excited,’” Maher remembered of their first meeting. “But it was also I was scared all of a sudden, the mask would be ripped away and you’d be like, ‘Alright, here we go. Let’s do it.’”

Looking back, she said, “I was so excited [that] how you were is actually how our time would be.”

While Maher and Bersten both acknowledged that Maher wasn’t an instant success on the dance floor, Bersten was pleased from day one that they were teamed up.

“Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. We’ve never had a rugby player on the show. I never realized how athletic you could be, which is such a blessing especially on the show,” Bersten said. “The best part about you was the hard work ethic. You never gave up.”

Despite having a rocky start in the practice room, Bersten claimed he was “hoping” Maher would be his season 33 partner.

“I already saw her in the Olympics. She has a lot of impact. She’s funny,” he gushed. “If I’m gonna spend five hours with somebody every day, I wanna have fun. You don’t want to be miserable.” (Maher was part of Team USA’s bronze medal-winning rugby team at the Paris Olympics in summer 2024.)

Maher teased that Bersten had his work cut out for him when they first started to dance together. The DWTS pro, however, put all the blame on himself.

“You’re only as good as your teacher,” he said, confessing, “I was a little nervous as well [to start]. I was like, ‘Oh, god did I teach her bad?’”

Bersten, who has been on the dance competition since season 25 in 2017, explained that it’s not the celebrity contestant’s job to be perfect. “When I dance, especially on the show, I don’t care about myself. My whole purpose is to make sure you feel good and look good,” he shared.

Every week, Bersten said he was more and more impressed with Maher’s dance evolution. “I never got frustrated with you messing up. I [got], like, sad and upset with myself that you messed up because maybe I didn’t prep you well enough,” he confessed. “It’s a weird feeling.”

He continued, “My whole job is to make sure that you’re prepared enough. … You were ready every time [and] overall, you rocked it.”

During the season 33 finale, which aired in November 2024, Bersten and Maher were one of five final teams competing for the Mirrorball Trophy. The duo performed two routines: jive (Maher’s redemption dance) and freestyle. They received an overall score of 57.

The winner, however, was The Bachelor alum Joey Graziadei and his partner, Jenna Johnson.