Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten Channel 'Encanto' for 'DWTS' Disney Night: Scores, Review

Olympic rugby star and SI Swimsuit digital cover model Ilona Maher has been entertaining us with her appearances every week this fall season Dancing with the starswhere she impressed her fans with her skillful dance moves and great personality. Together with his professional dance partner Alan Bersten, the 28-year-old athlete danced the rumba, jive and other popular dances. It's no surprise that many have been rooting for them as season 33 continues to air, and last week's episode in particular was positive for the couple.

During Dedication Night on October 15, Maher and Bersten performed a rumba to the song “My Way” by Yseult, which drew thunderous applause. Like most other pairings, the duo received 32 out of 40. We are now facing a new week and DWTS celebrated the House of Mouse this evening. At Disney Night on October 22nd, Maher and Bersten decided to dance to a song from the popular 2021 animated film Encanto“Surface pressure”.

Maher and Bersten danced jazz tonight and looked great doing it. Maher wore a Luisa Madrigal costume but with a twist, consisting of a white crop top with off-the-shoulder sleeves and a red bow, a blue skater skirt and white sneakers. To complete the look, she also wore a red bow in her hair. Funnily enough, her professional partner dressed up as one of the village donkeys from the film.

In their first performance of the night, Maher and Bersten received a score of 25 out of 30. Derek called Maher a “crowd favorite” and said the duo embodied the characters, although he admitted he wished Maher would dance a little more. Here's the judges' breakdown of the couple's performance:

Tonight is a special evening DWTSas the couples not only got to dance individually as usual, but also performed another dance after being split into two teams at the end of the episode. Maher served as captain of Team Goofs and her group danced to the song “Eye to Eye” by A silly film. Each team's celebrities were also tasked with dancing solo during the group performances, which understandably seemed a little daunting for everyone.

Here's what each of the judges thought about Team Goofs' performance:

Team Goofs achieved a total of 27 out of 30 points.

Following the group's performance, Maher and Bersten jumped onto the leaderboard with a total of 52 points. They came in second place, right behind actress Chandler Kinney and professional Brandon Armstrong. So what happened when the audience votes came in? Well, Maher and Bersten ended up being the second couple announced as safe for the week, meaning they'll be moving on to the next episode!

The couple were eliminated in this week's episode DWTS Season 33 featured Phaedra Parks and Val Chmerkovskiy, who seemed to appreciate the opportunity to work together during their exit interview.

Before today's new episode of DWTSMaher and Bersten took to Instagram to tease Encanto performance and encourage their fans to vote for them. As expected, fans flocked to the comments sections of the posts to share their love, with one even telling the Olympian: “If they ever do a live action EncantoYou MUST be Luisa!” We agree.

Maher served as SI Swimsuit's digital cover star in September, just about a month after she and Team USA took home the bronze medal in rugby sevens at the Paris Olympics. As an advocate for body positivity, Maher has been an incredible role model – especially this year. In September, she gave advice to young female athletes, saying: “I think as women our bodies are sometimes seen as something that needs to be objectified and our bodies are so much more than that and sport can show us what it can do.” So try everything and also remember that strength is really powerful and your body is meant for a purpose.”

New episodes of Dancing with the stars Season 33 airs every Tuesday night at 8:00 PM ET/PT on ABC and streams on Disney+. Next week we'll ring in the spooky season with a Halloween episode!