This is what our world has come to — a convicted con artist is a contestant on the new season of ABC’s television show “Dancing With The Stars.” Fake heiress Anna Delvey, born Anna Sorokin, was the last “star” to hit the dance floor with new pro Ezra Sosa … and her bejeweled ankle bracelet was sparkling just as much as the mirror ball itself.
Delvey was intro’ed at the top of the show as a “fashionista and entrepreneur,” which is quite a stretch.
In her season premiere package, the controversial socialite laughed while explaining that she’s wearing an ankle bracelet because she was in jail and “it was hard to leave.” She added, “I reinvented myself many times, and this time, I’m going to be a ballroom dancer.”
“In 2017, I was accused of multiple counts of grand larceny,” Delvey also said in the voice-over package over a pre-taped video segment of her tripping over her ankle bracelet mid-rehearsal. “I did serve my time, and ‘Dancing With the Stars’ is a way to show people a different side of me.”
“My prior history shows I’m pretty determined,” Delvey added. “It’s a good quality to channel into something positive.”
After her cha-cha routine to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso”, which began with a dramatic zoom in on the ankle bracelet and ended with Ezra grabbing it to add even more tension, judge Carrie Ann Inaba spoke to both Delvey and the audience.
“When you came out on the dance floor, there was a shift in the energy in this room. I just want to say, let’s all just give this a chance, because I can imagine that this is scary for you,” Inaba said. “I’m not pro or against what you’ve done, but this is about your dancing here, so let’s all give her this space, please.”
Inaba’s words were definitely in response to the fact that it was AWKWARD to watch Delvey dance in silence without any applause, cheer, or merriment from the studio audience during or after her performance. It was a stark contrast from the other contestants — DWTS fans really iced her out.
Anna Delvey-labeled perfume bottles exploded into flames in the digital background screens, which made things even more awkward for some reason.
Judge Bruno Tonioli reviewed the dance with a pun about Netflix’s docu-series “Inventing Anna,” which portrayed her sketchy past, shouting, “Reinventing Anna … yet again! And, it just might be working!”
Delvey was convicted in 2019 on eight felony counts, including grand larceny, and was released from prison in February 2021. She was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody months later after immigration authorities claimed she overstayed her visa and must return to her home country Germany. In October 2022, a judge ruled that she could be confined to her home as she fights her deportation case. Delvey was also ordered to wear an ankle bracelet, as reported by the LA Times.
Delvey said that she sought approval from ICE before traveling from New York to Los Angeles to shoot the show.
“I kind of got talked into doing this. I got the permission from ICE and then it was kind of too late to back out,” Delvey told the Hollywood Reporter shortly after her casting was announced.
Critics and fans are really calling out ABC’s casting choice of Anna Delvey on Dancing With The Stars, and it has really caused some national outrage.
Some people are even looping former president Donald Trump into the conversation…
And, Whoopi Goldberg had some not so nice things to say on The View, to which Delvey clapped back by saying “While you are entitled to your own opinions, you should at least get your facts straight. I served my time and paid everyone back in full 3+ years ago. Looking forward to your on-air correction.”
It’s safe to say, Americans will watch Delvey on DWTS the same as watching a train wreck — you don’t want to look, but you can’t take your eyes off of it.