'DWTS' Fans Rally Around Ilona Maher After Her Tearful on-Air Reaction

'DWTS' Fans Rally Around Ilona Maher After Her Tearful on-Air Reaction

Dancing With the Stars viewers might differ in their opinions on who stays and who goes home each week, but one thing is clear — they don't take too kindly when the judges upset any one of the competitors.

Following week 4's back-t0-back performances for Monday's "Soul Train Night" and Tuesday's "Hair Metal Night," viewers saw two pairs, Reginald VelJohnson and pro Emma Slater and Eric Roberts and pro Britt Stewart, sent home. However, it wasn't the double elimination that left fans most upset, but rather, night two's "harsh judging" that left contestant Olympian Ilona Maher in tears. Fans on social media were quick to rally around the bronze medal winner and her partner Alan Bersten.

The fan-favorite got emotional when the judges told her she seemed to struggle during her performance, with longtime judge Bruno Tonioli saying, "I love wild and wonderful and I love to embrace it, but I am sorry my darling, you went wrong so many times." She appeared to get so choked up that judge Carrie Ann Anaba asked if she was okay at one point, to which she replied that she had "been better."

Ilona later told co-host Julianne Hough that this just didn't seem to be one of her weeks. "This was a really tough dance for me, and this whole week's been really tough," she said. And you do it so well in dress rehearsal, and then you come out and you mess it up... it's really hard because [Alan]'s so good, and knows I can do well and then I just don't." Lucky for the 28-year-old, DWTS fans were quick to rally around her, offering all the kindness and support.

"Ilona, we love you!! Everyone makes mistakes! You are going to come back so much stronger!!," one person wrote. "Need to do better in lifting up ALL contestants! No reason to make her cry when she's never done this before... heartbreaking," another said. "Seeing her cry is so heartbreaking. It was a HARD dance and one small mistake doesn't take from how wonderful she is. I hate how hard she was on herself. But her being able to still be upbeat is amazing," someone else chimed in. One fan wrote, "Ilona honey, you are an absolute STAR and should be protected at all costs."

The duo's low score of 26/40 combined with their "Soul Night" score of 30/40 left them dangerously close to elimination, but thankfully they made it through to week 5, which airs tonight. The theme is "Dedication Night," where the nine remaining pairs will dance in tribute to someone or something that is important to them.

Ilona shared on Instagram that she's dedicating tonight's dance to her Olympic team. "Tonight, I'm dedicating this dance to my Olympic team," she wrote in the caption. "We truly did something so special not just for ourselves but for those who came before us and those who will come after us. It was in no way easy but I'm so happy I had this group of incredible people to do it with."

We can't wait to see what she does out there!


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