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Warning! The following contains spoilers from the Dancing with the stars Season 33 episode “Disney Night.” Stream the episode with a Disney+ subscription and read at your own risk!

All eyes were on it Ilona Maher the moment she announced on TikTok that she would be dancing to a Encanto song and delivering the character Luisa to the ballroom in the best possible way. Maher certainly seemed like the strongest sister of the Madrigal family, and so on Dancing with the stars‘ ‘Disney Night’, she proved that she also has smooth movements. It was a big night for her and almost perfect, if not for one gruesome part of the performance.

On a night where I expected some mild criticism about the choice of Disney Night songs, I was completely blindsided by the professional dancer’s costume choice Alan Berstenand enjoyed seeing the similar reactions from other fans. While the pro did as good a job as we’ve come to expect, I’d forgive anyone who forgot what show they were watching because of the demonic-looking donkey-humanoid hybrid on the dance floor.

Alan’s donkey costume was legitimate nightmare fuel

I’m not even kidding. When I first saw Alan on screen in the latest episode of Dancing with the stars, it was a scary moment. The fear receptors in my brain went off, and I assumed something had gone wrong, and in fact it had Pinocchio dance. After that brief fear subsided, I was just more confused than anything DWTS costume team committed to giving Alan the most realistic donkey face he can have. Although I’m not sure real donkeys would be that disturbing.

I should also point out that the backup dancers who shared the stage with them wore much cuter donkey outfits. The entire time I watched the performance I wondered why he didn’t just opt ​​for something that resembled their costumes, instead of the horror of a visual display he subjected the audience to. Julianne Hough I didn’t acknowledge it much, perhaps out of fear that he would appear next to her if she said his name three times, but I won’t get into trouble with her post-dance questions again.

Check out some of the funny reactions fans got after watching:

It was so shocking that I think it might trump Anna Delvey’s post-elimination interviews in that way. I’m sure Delvey would love to hear someone speak positively about her again, but I’m more interested in how Alan reacts after going online after their performance and seeing all the reactions to his donkey costume.

Ilona’s big night took her to the top of the leaderboard

Danny Amendola‘s time at the top of Dancing with the stars was short-lived, so perhaps my thoughts on him as a top candidate were premature. This week it was Ilona Maher’s time to shine, as her score of 52 points (her singles score plus team competition score) put her in second place with The bachelor‘S Joey Graziadei.

It was quite a jump in the rankings for her after a disastrous performance just two weeks earlier. We hope she can take this momentum and stay at the top of the leaderboard.

Dancing with the stars continues on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesdays at 8pm ET. Keep voting for your season 33 competitor every week and see what else is on TV next by watching our 2024 TV schedule.