Dancing With The Stars Ilona Maher Scored Big With Her Encanto Performance, But I Can't Get Over The Unexpectedly Horrifying Element
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Warning! The following contains spoilers from the Dancing With The Stars Season 33 episode "Disney Night." Stream the episode with a Disney+ subscription and read at your own risk!
It was all eyes on Ilona Maher the moment she announced on TikTok she'd be dancing to an Encanto song and bringing the character Luisa to the ballroom in the best way possible. Maher certainly looked like the strongest sister of the family Madrigal, and on Dancing With The Stars' "Disney Night," she proved she had some smooth moves too. It was a big night for her and nearly perfect if it wasn't for one horrifying element of the performance.
On a night where I'd expected some mild griping about Disney Night song choices, I was completely blindsided by the costume choice by pro dancer Alan Bersten, and enjoyed seeing other fans' similarly agog reactions. While the pro did his job as well as we're used to, I'd forgive anyone who forgot what show they were watching due to the demonic-looking donkey humanoid hybrid on the dance floor.
Alan's Donkey Costume Was Legitimate Nightmare Fuel
I'm not even joking. When I first saw Alan onscreen in the latest episode of Dancing With The Stars, it was a jump-scare moment. The fear receptors in my brain went off, and I assumed something had gone wrong, and it was actually going to be a Pinocchio dance. After that brief fear subsided, I was just more confused than anything that the DWTS costume team committed to making Alan have the most realistic donkey face he could have. Although I'm not sure any actual donkeys would be this disturbing.
I also have to point out that the backup dancers sharing the stage with them wore far cuter donkey outfits. The whole time I watched the performance, I wondered why he didn't just opt for something similar to their costumes, rather than the abomination of a visual display he subjected the audience to. Julianne Hough didn't acknowledge it all that much, perhaps out of fear of him appearing right next to her if she said his name three times, but I won't jump into issues with her post-dance questions again.
Check out some of the amusing responses that fans had after watching:
Alan as a donkey is gonna be my new sleep paralysis demon #dwts - @sarahkbar
Alan just scared the shit out of me #DWTS - @edisonsbulb
Alan in a HIDEOUS donkey costume.... this show is so insane #dwts - @selsjackets
#DWTS has gone way too far. That is easily the most terrifying thing I have ever seen. Alan, dude, youโre killing me. - @mdburnell
It was so shocking that I think it might just trump Anna Delvey's post-elimination interviews in that way. I'm sure Delvey would love to hear anyone being positive about her again, but I'm more interested in how Alan is reacting after getting online after their performance and seeing all the reactions to his donkey costume.
Ilona's Big Night Put Her Toward The Top Of The Leaderboard
Danny Amendola's time at the top of Dancing With The Stars was short-lived, so maybe my thoughts about him being a top contender were premature. This week was Ilona Maher's time to shine as her score of 52 points (her singles score plus team competition score) tied her for second place with The Bachelor's Joey Graziadei.
It was quite a jump in the standings for her after a borderline disastrous performance just two weeks prior. Here's hoping she can take this momentum and stay toward the top of the leaderboard.
Dancing With The Stars continues on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Continue to cast those votes for your Season 33 competitor each week, and check out what else is on TV after by peeping at our 2024 TV schedule.
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