Ilona Maher gained a number of fans as part of the bronze medal-winning U.S. rugby team at the Paris Olympics, and she’s only continued to redefine stereotypes on Dancing with the Stars. People have enjoyed watching her partnership with Alan Bersten on the 2024 TV schedule, but is it possible she might return to ABC to seek a longer-lasting relationship on The Bachelorette? After going viral for a hilarious TikTok with Joey Graziadei, the former Bachelor weighed in on if Maher really should enter the reality dating game.
The DWTS Season 33 cast features not only Bachelor Nation alum Joey Graziadei, but the most recent lead of The Bachelorette, Jenn Tran. So with Ilona Maher making it clear that she’s ready to find her own perfect match, it’s not really a surprise that her fellow dancers are rubbing off on her a little bit. So how would she do on the show? Graziadei had all the confidence in the world in her, telling ET:
Ilona has what it takes to be whatever she wants to be. If she wants to be the Bachelorette, if she wants to be president, I will be in her camp. I was just giving her some fun tips on how a rose ceremony would go, but she needs no help from me whatsoever. If she wants to do that, I’m sure she will, and I’m sure that she will crush it.
It sounds like Joey Graziadei is not underestimating the Olympic athlete in whatever path she wants to pursue. However, with his own connections within the reality dating realm, he suggested he might be able to help her out, if being The Bachelorette on the 2025 TV schedule is what she wants. He said:
I might know some people. We’ll see what happens. I don’t know. It’s a matter of if she wants to do it or not.
After Ilona Maher joked that she’d date 20 men for America, the idea of her being the next Bachelorette spread like wildfire. Adding fuel to the fire, she enlisted Joey Graziadei’s help, leading a mock rose ceremony in an A+ TikTok video that went viral. After seeing this, you’ll definitely understand why Maher’s season of The Bachelorette would be can’t-miss television:
@ilonamaher ♬ original sound - Ilona Maher
As a longtime fan of all things Bachelor Nation, I would kill for a lead who was honest enough to say things like, “You all are beautiful, but I don’t like all of you,” or to give someone a rose and then tell them their vibe has been terrible. Ilona Maher’s DWTS expert is all in on the idea, too, but Alan Bersten’s got some requirements for the men who court his partner, including they have to be good at contact sports (or just “strong,” Maher said) and enjoy reading. She added she wants a guy who likes food.
Those provisions don’t seem to be too much, do they, Bachelor producers? She’s already shown us what she’s capable of during rose ceremonies, so I think it’s time for Joey Graziadei to make that call. In the meantime, though, we can watch both Graziadei and Ilona Maher compete in the three-hour Dancing with the Stars finale, which kicks off at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, November 26, on ABC and streaming with a Disney+ subscription.
