Ilona Maher Says She Doesn't 'Feel Bad for Crying' on Dancing with the Stars: 'It Felt Very Right in the Moment' (Exclusive)

Ilona Maher became vulnerable Dancing with the stars this week, and the Olympian has no regrets about it.

Maher is competing on the 33rd season of the hit competition series with partner Alan Bersten, and she broke down in tears after going a little wild during her jive on the Oct. 8 episode.

A few days later, the 28-year-old told PEOPLE, “I felt very good at this point.”

“I was one of those people who really put things on and then it broke. Of course, it was on national television, so much fun for me, but I also didn’t feel bad about it. I don’t feel bad about crying,” she said on the opening day of the Delta One lounge at Los Angeles International Airport.

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“I didn’t perform the way I knew I could and I didn’t want to just be like, ‘Oh, I’ll get it next time,’ because it was hard,” she continued.

“I expect better from myself and I know I can do better. And I think everything came to light, everything came together.”

Alan Bersten and Ilona Maher in the 33rd season of ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

Disney/Eric McCandless

Maher also said that the demanding schedule for DWTS didn’t help her recover from the emotional night.

“Tuesday was a really rough night and then instead of – you’d like to have time to regroup – [but] I came back on Wednesday. At 11 in the morning I did an interview for Dancing with the stars and I had training that next day. Well, I will say that it is difficult because I cried in all the interviews, I cried in training. As if I haven’t gotten everything out yet. I think it was almost just an accumulation of so much that happened.”

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The rugby player — who won bronze with the U.S. women’s rugby team in Paris this summer — said she wishes she had a little more time to “reset” before moving into Week 5 DWTS.

“It’s kind of interesting because now it’s like, ‘Okay, maybe next week you’ll be better.’ So I don’t know if I’ve completely reset myself, but I’m just going to try, every day, to take advantage of the moments that I can.”

Ilona Maher gets emotional after jive with Alan Bersten on ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

Disney/Eric McCandless

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In a video she shared as a joint post with Bersten on Instagram after this week’s episode aired, Maher said of her performance: “It was tough, but I have a great partner, and we have next week — they scared us there, they scared us a little bit — but we have next week to improve, so thanks to everyone for your support.”

“Please keep voting, I’ll get better, I swear,” she said as she ended the video.

Bersten (30) also shared a post in honor of his partner. “Words can’t describe how proud I am of you. It takes so much strength to be vulnerable. You’ve shown me how much you care and I’m so grateful to have you as my partner,” he wrote on Instagram. “You are an inspiration to millions, especially me.”

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Dancing with the stars airs Tuesdays at 8pm ET on ABC and Disney+ and airs the following day on Hulu.

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Source: HIS Education