Dancing With The Stars Season 33 was certainly a banger, and the finale was no exception. If you missed it, Joey Graziadei—the dude from The Bachelor—and his professional dancing partner Jenna Johnson were awarded the coveted Mirrorball Trophy. Their cha-cha will be remembered for a mighty minute, as there’s a reason it landed them in the winning slot. However, Ilona Maher and her professional partner Alan Bersten came so close to snagging the glittering trophy for themselves.
If you missed it, the five celebrity contestants dancing for the prize in the season finale were: Danny Amendola from the NFL, Joey Graziadei from The Bachelor, actress Chandler Kinney, Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, and, of course, Ilona Maher, the Olympic rugby player who took the world by storm with her unabashed pride in the work that has made her so strong. The performances were breathtaking and hard to rank, but Joey and Jenna’s dance— with Jenna’s brilliant choreography— took the winning spot for a reason.
It has to be said that Ilona Maher had a remarkable season. She may not have won the Mirrorball Trophy, but she certainly showed those who were critical of her physical appearance at the Olympics that their words weren’t going to stop her. Where people sought to tear her down for being a muscle-bound woman, she used her strength to her advantage during her DWTS journey. Her freestyle was simply gorgeous and made an emotional impact on the judges in the studio and on viewers at home alike. She described her time on the show as “transformative” for her personally, and told Sports Illustrated, “For me, it’s just showing how powerful and how important it is to be strong physically and mentally.” Well, she certainly did that and managed to use her time on DWTS to advocate for body positivity and challenge traditional beauty standards.
Ilona’s commitment to embracing her own unique beauty has been a powerful moment for women and girls the world over, and a source of confidence and inspiration. Her message about body positivity, resilience, and the importance of believing in oneself is more important than ever with the inundation of messaging today’s tweens and teens receive about how they ‘should’ be, courtesy of the media. By claiming her place in the very same media that tried to vilify her strength, Ilona sent a powerful message as a strong, gorgeous woman that won’t soon be forgotten.
Between witnessing Ilona’s success and Joey and Jenna’s artistry on the floor, the DWTS Season 33 finale is going to be a hard one to top! We hope all the finalists are enjoying the holiday week with their families and getting some well-deserved rest. And for the next season of DWTS, can we personally request more role models like Ilona? That would be simply the best.
