Why Ilona Maher Didn’t Wear Ballroom Heels During DTWS’ Oscar Night

Ilona Maher took a break from her ballroom heels for a safety reason on Dancing With the Stars.

Maher, 28, exclusively opened up to Us Weekly about wearing flats instead of heels during her season 33 Oscars Night performance on Tuesday, September 24.

“We were debating it before safety, before just throwing each other around,” she told Us, noting that because she lifted pro Alan Bersten during her Salsa to “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, she wanted to wear extra comfortable shoes. “I thought for my ankles, I just wanted to wear flats,” she said.

Bersten, 30, then chimed in, “And for the stability of it.”

“I do like the heels, and I want to keep wearing them,” Maher shared with Us. “I love the way they make you feel. You kind of dance a little differently in heels.”

Maher previously opened up to Us about her ballroom heels after the DWTS premiere earlier this month.

“My shoes are really digging in,” she told Us, as Bersten pointed out the Olympian was barefoot at the time. “She’s got tape all over her toes.”

Bersten then admitted that the heels would be painful with blisters, which Maher was experiencing.

She then joked to Us that the only way to cure her blisters was to start wearing socks with her heels.

“I mean, they look beautiful, so I like them,” Bersten told Us. “I think, honestly, it’s just getting the blisters and then getting calluses. There’s no easy way around it.”

He continued, joking Maher is “going to look down a year from now at her feet and be like, that [scar] was from the cha-cha.”

After their Salsa, Maher and Bersten scored a total of 21 points out of 30.

Tuesday’s double elimination concluded with Tori Spelling and Pasha Pashkov getting sent home, along with Anna Delvey and pro Ezra Sosa.

With Reporting by Carly Konsker