Image Credit: Disney
Forgot password
Enter the email address you used when you joined and we'll send you instructions to reset your password.
If you used Apple or Google to create your account, this process will create a password for your existing account.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Reset password instructions sent. If you have an account with us, you will receive an email within a few minutes.
Something went wrong. Try again or contact support if the problem persists.
Ilona Maher in formal dress
Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Who is the rugby player on ‘Dancing With the Stars’?

Beast. Beauty. Brains.

The Dancing With the Stars season 33 took place on Tuesday, September 17 and the night was electric.

Recommended Videos

Thirteen star-studded couples faced off for their first week of competition for the mirrorball trophy, and the cast ranges from football players to reality stars to actors to even the show’s first-ever Olympic rugby player.

You may recognize Ilona Maher from her social media stardom and her motto “Beast. Beauty. Brains,” but before Maher was competing in the Mirrorball she was competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning the U.S.’s first-ever women’s rugby medal, a bronze.

But she first went viral during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for capturing behind-the-scenes content of what it was like in the Olympic Village and trying to push women’s Rugby towards the mainstream.

@ilonamaher

A lil different than sabrina

♬ Taste – Sabrina Carpenter

According to Sporting News, the iconic athlete was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1996. She studied nursing at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT, and earned her Master’s Degree at Devry University. Talk about beast, beauty, brains.

She shared on her TikTok that she started playing rugby in high school and she played through college, joining the women’s national team in 2018. According to the USA Rugby National Team’s website, she assisted her collegiate team to three titles during her career and was awarded the MA Sorenson award, which is given to the best women’s rugby players in college athletics.

Maher has a large social media following, with 2.4 million followers on TikTok, and she uses her platform to promote body positivity and women’s sports. She frequently vocalizes that women can be both strong athletic and beautiful. She’s even been known to wear lipstick while she plays rugby to appeal to her feminine side, while impressively stiff-arming players on the rugby pitch.

She even graced the cover of Sports Illustrated‘s Swimsuit Issue, proving once again that big, strong athletes can still be sexy, confident, and feminine.

@ilonamaher

Reply to @_taylor327_ @Maybelline New York sponsor me #beastbeautybrains

♬ original sound – Ilona Maher

This week on Dancing with the Stars, she danced to Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like a Woman,” as an ode to her platform that femininity comes in all shapes and sizes. According to Entertainment Weekly, she decided to join the show to show young girls everywhere that female athletes are multifaceted, and “so much more than their sport.”

She said that she hopes her time on the show will help to tear down stereotypes about female athletes and demonstrate how her body, and bodies like hers, can exist and excel everywhere from the dance floor to the rugby pitch.


We Got This Covered is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Jensen Bird
Jensen Bird
Jensen is a Freelance Writer at We Got This Covered. She specializes in TikTok and social media content. She is currently pursuing her M.S. in Journalism at Columbia University and has a degree in Foreign Language & Communications Media. Jensen spends way too much time scrolling on TikTok and is grateful for a position that lets her write about it.