DWTS’ Alan Bersten Says Ilona’s Halloween Dance Score Was ‘Harsh’

Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten are proud of their latest Dancing With the Stars performance, but their score wasn’t as high as they hoped.

“I think we were working on so many things this week, and Ilona really did focus on all of them,” Bersten, 30, exclusively told Us Weekly after the ABC dance competition’s Halloween Nightmares episode on Tuesday, October 29. “[The judges] were a little harsh with the scores, in my opinion, but they’re judges and that’s the point. We’re here to learn and we’re going to keep growing.”

The duo scored 24 out of 30 points for their spooky tango to “Psycho Killer” by the Talking Heads. While the score was one of their best of the season, it ended up being the lowest of the night, as several of the other competitors earned one or multiple 10s from the judges.

In the judges’ feedback, Bruno Tonioli stated that Maher, 28, improved her frame but needed to work on her footwork. Derek Hough agreed with Tonioli’s comments, while Carrie Ann Inaba claimed that Maher may have accidentally thrown herself off balance by whipping her head around too hard.

Bersten and Maher also lost their dance-off against Dwight Howard and Daniella Karagach even though Inaba, 56, said they had the more “technically sound” performance of the two cha-chas.

“We’re here to learn and we’re going to keep growing. So next week, we’re going to make sure to take heel steps. That is going to be priority number one,” Bersten told Us. “But I am so proud of Ilona because her frame was amazing. Her head actions were amazing. Her sharpness, her legs, everything was so pristine. I’m so glad and I’m so proud of her. I’m so grateful that we’re still here. Thank you to the fans.”

Maher added: “Thank you to America. And Canada. And the territories of America. And everyone who’s voting.”

Despite the “harsh” score, the partners think they addressed criticism that Maher needed to dance more in their routines. “I think we were on the wrong week because this time we did more dancing, and I guess they like the lifts! I guess they like the lifts,” Bersten stated. “But it’s OK. Honestly, even though the critiques were hard, I felt like this was a win for us because Ilona came out there and just did so well with the dancing, in my opinion. And we’re just going to keep going.”

Their Halloween Nightmares routine was inspired by Maher’s fear of psycho killers, but Bersten and Maher both agreed their current biggest fear is not advancing in the competition.

“Getting eliminated before we’re ready. Because we’re not ready to go home yet, and we’re not ready to stop what we’re building here and how much fun we’re having,” Maher told Us.

The partners survived Tuesday’s elimination, with Jenn Tran and Sasha Farber being sent home. The series will take a one-week break before returning for its milestone 500th episode on Tuesday, November 12.

Dancing With the Stars airs simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. You can stream episodes on Disney+ the next day.

With reporting by Carly Konsker