Ilona Maher hoped for “higher results” with DWTS Dedication Night Dance

Ilona Maher recovered in the meantime Dancing with the stars' Dedication Night – but she still has her sights set higher.

“I was hoping for higher results, but I also just wanted to improve compared to last week, get back on the horse and feel better about it,” Maher, 28, said exclusively Us weekly following the Tuesday, October 15, episode of the ABC Ballroom Competition. “So if I had felt better and gotten a seven or a six, I would have said, 'Oh, that was good for me.'”

your partner, Alan Berstenagreed. “Those are our highest scores, so we’ll take them,” he said Us. “But to me the results didn't matter because the first time we finished it was like, 'Oh my God.' We destroyed that.' I was so present in it. I usually pass out and just hope for the best. And this time I felt so connected to Ilona and it was just beautiful. So, I'm really happy. Points don’t matter, but we are proud that we got eighth place.”

The dance duo scored 32 out of 40 for their rumba to “My Way.” Yseult. Maher dedicated her achievement to her teammates on the U.S. Rugby Women's National Sevens Team, with whom she took home a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this year.

“Everyone asks me, 'Oh, how did you get to be so confident?' How did you get into this? “What you do for women is so amazing. And I just answer that the reason is because of them,” Maher gushed. “And when you're around a group of women like that who make you feel so strong and beautiful, it affects you and changes other people.”

Maher told Us She was “so happy” to see her teammates cheering her on in the crowd on Tuesday, as it was their first reunion since the Paris Games. “Just seeing them in this environment and I know they're proud of me and supporting me,” she shared. “And yes, they cried because they just love me, and I think we love each other.”

For his part, Bersten said he wanted to dedicate his latest dance to his parents. “I’m a mama’s boy. I love my mother. I love my father,” he said. “I am very grateful to my family.”

The pair's score put them in a five-point tie with the competition Brooks Nader And Gleb Savchenko, Chandler Kinney And Brandon Armstrong, Jenn Tran And Sasha Farber And Phaedra Parks And Val Chmerkovskiy. Nader, 28, and Savchenko, 41, were sent home.

Maher's performance at Dedication Night was a big improvement from last week's Hair Metal Night, where she was left teary-eyed after messing up the pair's jive to Quiet Riot's “Cum On Feel the Noize.” The dance earned them a score of 26 points.

Maher told Us She is “not shocked” that her time is over DWTS was emotional. “I have always been a person who shows my feelings openly. When I feel a certain way, I show it,” she explained. “And my teammates even said, I guess my best friend was like, 'Well, the next day when you were done crying, we just said, 'Oh, that's Lo.' So, 'Oh, that's just how Lo is.' .' Sometimes she does and gets right back on the horse.”

She continued: “It's just always been the way I've been. I cry at rugby. I cry in one of the hardest sports in the world. And it doesn’t take away from me how powerful I am or who I am as a person.”

Maher and Bersten, 30, will return to the ballroom for Disney Night on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Dancing with the stars airs simultaneously on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+. You can stream episodes on Disney+ the next day.

With reporting by Carly Konsker