Ilona Maher
Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesIlona Maher is returning to the sport that made her famous.
Maher, 28, announced on Monday, December 2 that she is joining the Bristol Bears, a top-level women’s rugby club in Bristol, England. The previous week, the athlete ranked second in Dancing with the stars final, losing to the former Bachelor star Joey Graziadei.
She revealed her exciting news with a video on Instagramwearing a blue and white Bears uniform as she said she was “so excited to be joining the Bristol Bears and playing top class women’s rugby with and against some of the best rugby players in the world”.
She added that she is “looking forward to calling Bristol home as we prepare for the 2025 Rugby World Cup to be played here in England.”
Maher’s professional statement is interspersed with snippets of footage where she displays the wacky humor that has made her a social media star.
“Are there really bears here? Because I don’t know what to … grizzly bears are the nice ones? Black bears are the mean ones, right?” Maher asked the silent crew filming her.
She then wanted to know “is it going to be this cold all the time? It’s a little, a little chilly.”
Maher also jokingly asked if he would get a “roast” after signing with the team.
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Meanwhile, she received an outpouring of congratulations in the comments section of her video post.
“LET GOOOOO 💪🏽,” wrote Graziadei, 29, echoing praise from Dancing with the stars finalist Chandler Kinneywhich gushed “LETS GO LO!!!!!!!!!”
Alan BerstenMaher’s dance partner on the show, said: “I’m so proud of you And I can’t wait to see you kill it.
Maher before that dedicated one of their performances to her teammates on the US women’s national rugby sevens team, with whom she took home a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. earlier this year.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images Olympian Ilona Maher has made an impression with her rugby talent and hot online appearances. Maher, 27, started playing rugby in high school before making a name for herself as a college athlete. Eventually, she caught the attention of coaches Richie Walker and Emily Bidwell, who chose her to join the (…)
“Everybody asks me how, ‘Oh, how did I get so confident?’ How did you manage to be this way? What you are doing for women is so amazing. And I just answer that the reason is because of them,” Maher said in October. “And when you’re around a group of women like this who make you feel so strong, so beautiful, it translates and affects you and changes other people.”
Maher said Monday in an interview with The Guardian that it has reached several elite English rugby clubs in late 2023. While competing on DWTSBristol contacted her and helped secure her a visa to play for the Bears.
“All of a sudden I got all these calls and emails from people saying, ‘We hear you might be eligible to play, do you want to come for us?’ OK, I wanted to play for you, I wanted to do that. I had a lot of other teams call to come play. I think I got behind Bristol because they did this job and I wanted to stick with them,” she explained.
Maher could play his first match abroad on January 4, according to The Guardian.
“I feel like the first day of school, I’m nervous, I don’t know everyone,” she told the publication. “It’s a stressful thing and it’s out of my comfort zone, but I think it’s just what I like to do and I like to challenge myself that way.”
