Who won Dancing with the Stars? Who cares! This season was all about Ilona Maher's star power | CBC News (2025)

Natalie Stechyson · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 27, 2024 1:41 PM EST | Last Updated: November 27

Last night, after much glitz and fanfare and sequins and kick-ball-changes,a winner was crowned on ABC's 33rd seasonofDancing with the Stars.

In the hearts of her legions of online fans, that winner was Olympic rugby player and social media sensation Ilona Maher. In reality, it wasn't, but does that really matter?

The hit series that pairs professional ballroom dancers with celebrities to compete in themed choreographed dance routines hada record-breaking seasonboth in terms of viewership and votes cast.

Last night's ratings haven't yetbeen released, but the semifinal last week hit a season high of5.19 million total viewers, as well as besting last year's semifinal audience of 5.13 million. In addition, fanvoting broke a series record by surpassing 20 million votes cast.

Even the season premiere in October sawthe most votes ever received on a single episode in series history up to that point.

Not bad for a show in its 33rd season. And while we can't say for sure what drove fans to tune into this year's competition, Olympian Maher and her millions of Instagram and TikTok followers likely didn't hurt.

"Ilona Maher was the true embodiment of this season, imo. She was constantly improving, showed vulnerability and gained so much confidence. She empowered so many young girls and won the hearts of so many," wrote one fan on X.

"Inspired a nation twice in one year," wrote Team USA on Instagram.

"This is forever an Ilona Maher stan account," parenting news site Scary Mommy wrote on Instagram to their 2.6 million followers.

Maher veryskillfullybrought her fans into herprivate experience on the show byposting so many of her own videos, saidZorianna Zurba, a pop culture expert andassistant professor inthe Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.

"So you enter it not as a fan of the show, but a fan of her personally. You enter into Dancing with the Stars as someone whowants to cheer her on."

So who actually won?

In fact, the winners wereJoey Graziadei— best-known for his stint as the Bachelor in the 28th season of the show — andhispartner, dancer and choreographer Jenna Johnson.

"It means everything, this whole experience has been unbelievable," Graziadeisaid after his win. "Thank you for bearing with us. I tried my best, I promise!"

Maher and partner AlanBersten were the runners-up, coming in second.

Each couple performed a freestyle dance and a redemption dance. For redemption, Maher and Berstenperformed a jive to Shake A Tail Featherby Ray Charles & The Blues Brothers.Graziadeiand Johnson performed a cha-cha to Can'tStopTheFeeling!by Justin Timberlake—earninga perfect score.

How Maher flipped the script

U.S. rugby star Maher, 28, skyrocketed to social media fame during this summer'sParis Olympics, where she won a bronze medal. She's known for her quirky, comedic online presence as well as her advocacy for body positivity. She's been dubbed "the queen of memes" on social media, where she's posted countless reels about her Dancing with the Starsjourney.

Maher was also the September digital cover model for Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition, where she was called a "modern-day role model of strength, conviction and authenticity."

Maher often flipped the script on traditional ideas of femininity throughout this season of Dancing with the Stars, sometimesopting not to wear ballroom heels, and often lifting Bersten in the air. For the show's Disney-inspired episode, Maher dressed as strong-woman Luisa from Encanto.

Andbefore the finale aired, she posted a video of herself eating a Trader Joe'ssheet cake to prepare.

Maher reminded usthat dance is athletic, requiring strength, while also breaking downgender binaries, said Zurba,who is a dancer herself.

Instead of followingtraditional male and female partner dance roles, her dances reimaginedthem as the more modern leader and follower —andthose can switch back and forth throughout, like a conversation.

"People canbe ambi-dancerous," Zurba said.

"The movement between two dancers doesn't need to be gendered. It can be this fluid, beautiful thing."

'We won in many other ways'

And evidently this resonated with fans.

"I've never been a huge DTWS. Watched a few episodes but never been invested. I am 100% invested in@ilona_maher and her journey. She is absolutely the kind of role model I want for my kid and hell, for me," a user wrote on X, saying she'd be tuning in for the finale.

During the show, Maher said winning the trophy would be nice, but it wouldn't be so much for herself. "I think it'll be for all the girls who've been told they're too big or they're too muscular and they're not pretty," she said.

After the show, Maher thanked her fans in an Instagram post.

"You voting is the reason we got to 2nd place. Of course, it's no first, but honestly we won in many other ways."

WATCH | Ilona Maher on the cover of Sports Illustrated:

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