Season 33 of Dancing with the Stars made an interesting decision by casting Anna Delvey. In 2019, Anna, aka Anna Sorokin, was convicted of grand larceny in the first, second, and third degree. She pretended to be a German heiress and scammed rich people, hotels, and banks. In the end, Anna was given a sentence between four to 12 years in prison, and she was ordered to pay restitution and a fine.
However, she was released in 2021 and is under the custody of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). She is fighting her deportation, so she is living in New York City under house arrest, sporting her ankle monitor. Of course, DWTS has often cast polarizing contestants and several other people who have served time have competed. Shout out to Season 31 contestant Teresa Giudice!
Meanwhile, Anna was paired with a new dance pro, Ezra Sosa. During Week 1, they danced a Cha-Cha, and during Oscars Night, they performed a Quickstep. Their scores totaled 35 points for both weeks. That landed the duo in 11th place on the leaderboard. Then Anna was eliminated, and her response stunned the ballroom and viewers alike. Let’s take a look at how the DWTS cast reacted to Anna Delvey’s stint on the show.
Julianne Hough
After Tori Spelling and Anna learned their ballroom fate, co-host Julianne Hough asked Anna, “What are you going to take away from this competition?” Anna responded, “Nothing.” Somehow, Julianne kept her composure. “There you have it! Absolutely nothing!” she said. Later the two-time Mirrorball champ shared the clip via Instagram, along with the caption, “There you have it ….. ICONIC.”
Meanwhile, DWTS pro Peta Murgatroyd, who sat out this season, commented, “I spat my drink out.” Naturally, Ezra defended his partner. “I think she was referring to anything you’d be taking away ‘physically,’” he posted. Really? Not even the bedazzled ankle monitor?
Recently, Julianne reflected on Anna’s terse response. “I’m always a big believer in grace and second chances and showing up. Also, it’s hard to go out first in the competition,” Julianne told PEOPLE.
Alfonso Ribeiro
Julianne’s co-host Alfonso Ribeiro addressed the controversy about Anna’s exit on the show, The Talk. “All I have to tell you is, live is live. And it can be scary when it’s live,” Alfonso explained. While he acknowledged that Anna’s remark was “obviously not an answer that any of us would be expecting,” he added that she was “clearly a trendsetter” during her short run on DWTS.
Alfonso continued, “For her and her journey … it’s really difficult in that situation because you’re being told, ‘Bye. You stink, you’re not good enough, we don’t want you here.’” He added, “And at the end of the day, like, you have to react to that.”
The DWTS host also admitted that Anna was “destroyed” on social media when the cast was announced. “It was an honest answer. Like, ‘What am I going to take away from this? Hurt, pain, suffering,’” Alfonso stated. Wow.
Carrie Ann Inaba
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba defended Anna after her first ballroom performance. “I just want to say something,” she said. “When you came out on the dance floor, there was a shift in the energy in this room. And I would just like to say. ‘Let’s all just give this a chance,’ because I can imagine that this is scary for you.” Carrie Ann added, “And I’m not pro or for or against anything … but this is about your dancing here.”
However, after Anna shared her takeaway from the show, Carrie Ann reversed her stance. “As for Anna, I was taken aback by her comment when asked what she learned from being on the show, and she flatly said, ‘Nothing,’” Carrie Ann told Entertainment Weekly. “That was dismissive not only of the opportunity she was given, of her wonderful and supportive partner Ezra in his debut season but also of all of us who work on the show.” She continued, “We all put in the effort to give her a fair opportunity. A little gratitude could have changed the narrative,” Carrie Ann added.
Cheryl Burke
Former DWTS pro Cheryl Burke also reacted to Anna’s early exit from the ballroom. While Anna took “nothing” from the show, Cheryl told Variety, “I believe that the feeling is mutual from the fans of [the] show.”
During her podcast, Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans, Cheryl, who was a pro for 26 seasons, broke down the Season 33 premiere. “As funny and dry as it is, most of America I don’t think will relate to her,” Cheryl said of Anna. “So, I’m hoping Ezra or somebody cracks her open because she is human. She’s not a robot.”
She continued, “People are not happy about her being on the show. So, the only way, though, that she can change people’s minds is if she shows emotion.” Cheryl added, “She’s continuing to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths because she’s not willing to be vulnerable.”
Maksim Chmerkovskiy
DWTS alum Maksim Chmerkovskiy also had a strong reaction to Anna joining the show. During his recent appearance on The TMZ Podcast, Maksim said that if DWTS was looking for “an ankle brace” and a juicy scandal, then there were “so many other people you could choose from.”
Plus, Maksim felt that Anna didn’t belong on DWTS. “You’re gonna bring that person and say, ‘Here’s a platform that a lot of people waited their entire actual career [for?]’” he remarked. And Maksim pulled no punches about her dancing ability. “She’s just a sh*tty dancer … I didn’t even get to see the ‘why’ she got on the show,” he stated.
Well, Anna clapped back at Maksim. Buckle up, folks. In her Instagram Story, Anna wrote, “Who’s this Maksim person? He must be poor.” Ouch!
Val Chmerkovskiy
Maksim’s brother, Val Chmerkovskiy, is currently a DWTS pro. He is dancing with Real Housewives of Atlanta peach Phaedra Parks. Val also weighed in on Anna’s performance, but in a more gentle fashion than Maksim.
“He has his opinion. Whether I share his opinion or not, that’s not my quote,” Val explained, “and that’s not my position to talk about it.” Next, Val complimented Anna’s partner. “First of all, shout-out to Ezra, her pro, who did an amazing job.” He added, “I think she worked hard, and she did well – and that’s it.”
Finally, Val pointed out that Anna’s criminal history had “nothing to do with her presently doing Dancing with the Stars.” Still, he understood Maksim’s stance. Val stated, “I also understand where he’s coming from.”
Ezra Sosa
Anna’s partner, Ezra, spoke out after Anna’s exit and shocking comment. “I knew she was going to say something very iconic and something very ‘Anna Delvey’ with her exit. Of course, she has to – it’s very typical,” Ezra told Extra. “We would expect nothing less of her.”
But backstage, Anna was far more emotional. “She honestly kept on apologizing to me,” he explained. “She felt super sorry that my first season was cut short.”
Ezra continued, “I honestly wanted to stay longer for my partner. I really wanted to give her a chance to really grow on camera and let America … see who she really is.” So, what did Ezra want everyone to know about Anna? “How incredibly sweet she is and how misunderstood she is … I really tried my best to see her for the person she is outside the persona,” the newbie pro stated.
In addition, Ezra explained in a TikTok following the premiere how he felt after his debut as a pro. And he also shared Anna’s reaction to the online negativity. “On my end, I was feeling so much positivity. On my partner’s end, she wasn’t receiving the same,” he said. “I think the hardest part of my day, after her press line, she was reading the comments and we couldn’t find her. They finally found her in the bathroom.”
Ezra added, “She was crying. I’ve never seen her like that, and it broke my heart.” I love Ezra for being such a supportive and positive partner for Anna.
Anna was a guest on Tori’s podcast, MisSPELLING, where they discussed receiving the dreaded ballroom boot. “You guys told me what I’m supposed to do. I tried to do it, and then I still was rejected,” Anna stated. “This is what I’m taking away from it because your advice was worthless. The advice did not pay off for me, even though I tried to follow it.”
She also remarked that it “felt like a waste of time” for the show to include her in the cast “just to discard me so easily.” Again, the fans’ votes had a huge part in sending Anna home.
But Anna wasn’t done sounding off about DWTS. In an email to NBC News, Anna said, “I feel that the show so obviously used me to drive up the ratings, that they never had any plans to give me any chance to grow and only cared about exploiting me for attention.” She added, “It was predatory of them to try [to] make me feel inadequate and stupid all while I did get progressively better yet they chose to disregard that.”
Well, Anna’s short stint on the show was certainly memorable!
Dancing with the Stars Season 33 will return with two episodes on Monday, October 7, and Tuesday, October 8 at 8/7c on ABC and Disney+. The dances will be taped for Monday’s episode, and a live show will air on October 8, when another elimination will take place.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE DWTS CAST’S REACTIONS TO ANNA DELVEY’S STINT ON THE SHOW?