Ilona Maher has finally explained the awkward hand gesture that instantly went viral after her appearance in the Dancing With the Stars ballroom — and she admits she realized almost immediately how badly it had translated on camera.
The Olympic rugby star and Season 33 DWTS runner-up was sitting in the audience during the September 29 episode alongside her former professional partner Alan Bersten and former contestant Andy Richter.
During the live broadcast, host Alfonso Ribeiro mentioned Maher’s upcoming appearance on the official DWTS podcast. When the camera turned toward the group, Maher enthusiastically pointed toward Richter and Bersten before attempting to mime speaking into a microphone.
The problem was that her hand movement looked very different from what she intended.
Maher immediately seemed to recognize the mistake. Her expression changed, she quickly lowered her hands and covered her mouth while the people sitting around her burst into laughter.
The moment became even funnier when Maher later had to explain herself on the DWTS podcast.
Maher insisted there was a completely innocent explanation: she believed she was simply pretending to hold a microphone and speak into it while promoting the upcoming podcast episode.
Richter couldn’t resist pointing out that she had clearly realized almost instantly how the gesture could be interpreted.
Maher admitted that was exactly what happened. As soon as she saw what she was doing, her immediate thought was essentially, “What did I just do there?”
She jokingly tried to place some of the blame on Bersten and her sister Olivia for making her reaction worse, although Bersten quickly defended himself and insisted he had nothing to do with it.
Bersten then offered the explanation that probably made the entire misunderstanding inevitable: Maher apparently didn’t know that the podcast doesn’t require its guests to physically hold microphones.
Maher also addressed the moment afterward on social media, explaining that she had been trying to imitate talking into a microphone and joking that she had now learned an important lesson — some gestures simply don’t translate the way you expect them to.
Fortunately, Maher seemed able to laugh about the embarrassing live-TV moment afterward. Two years after finishing second on DWTS with Bersten, her return to the ballroom managed to produce another memorable moment — this time without her even stepping onto the dance floor.
