Convicted con artist Anna Delvey says her journey to the newest season of “Dancing With the Stars” got here with an additional step.
The fraudster fashionista, who impressed Netflix’s “Inventing Anna” sequence and was convicted in 2019 of eight felony counts together with grand larceny, stated she sought approval from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier than touring from New York to Los Angeles to shoot the long-running ABC celeb competitors present. Delvey (born Anna Sorokin) will likely be among the many 13 stars vying for the newest Mirror Ball trophy when “DWTS” returns later this month.
“I form of bought talked into doing this. I bought the permission from ICE after which it was form of too late to again out,” Delvey instructed the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday shortly after her casting was introduced.
Delvey, 33, was launched from jail in February 2021 and was taken into ICE custody months later after immigration authorities claimed she overstayed her visa and should return to her native Germany. In October 2022, a decide dominated that Delvey may very well be confined to her house as she fights her deportation case. Delvey was additionally ordered to put on an ankle bracelet.
Now, the monitor is Delvey’s ballroom accent.
When “DWTS” unveiled its full lineup, it described Delvey in a press launch as a “infamous ankle bracelet fashionista” who will associate with professional Ezra Sosa. Delvey’s “DWTS” forged photograph exhibits her in a gold sequined costume and ballroom footwear along with her ankle monitor simply above her proper foot.
Con artist Anna Delvey, who impressed Netflix’s “Inventing Anna,” will star in Season 33 of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
(Andrew Eccles / Disney)
When requested whether or not the ankle bracelet would have an effect on her strikes, Delvey assured THR that “it’s really fairly gentle.”
Forward of her “DWTS” debut, Delvey confronted backlash on social media for her casting. Some followers on a Reddit web page devoted to “DWTS” questioned Devley’s “star” standing, referring to her swindling individuals and companies out of $275,000. Different followers joked, “that is iconic.”
Delvey’s casting additionally grew to become a speaking level on Thursday’s episode of “The View,” with co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, Pleasure Behar and Sara Haines sharing their two cents.
“I feel again to all of the households who’ve had relations arrested by ICE, who’ve gone to the courts to get their dad or their brother or their mom again and this lady they gave her permission to go do that,” Goldberg stated. “Now, ought to I feel there’s a motive … is there a two-tiered system right here with ICE?”
Hostin added: “I like a come-up however when are there penalties to individuals’s actions?”
Amid the backlash, Delvey instructed Folks, “it’s simply not that critical.”
“If somebody is that upset about casting on a dancing present, I don’t know what to inform them,” she added.
Olympians Ilona Maher and Stephen Nedoroscik, “Bachelorette” star Jenn Tran, Dwight Howard, Tori Spelling and Phaedra Parks are additionally among the many newest celeb dance opponents.
Season 33 of “Dancing With the Stars,” co-hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, premieres Sept. 17 on ABC.
The Related Press contributed to this report.