Convicted con artist Anna Delvey says her journey to the latest season of “Dancing With the Stars” came with an extra step.
The fraudster fashionista, who inspired Netflix’s “Inventing Anna” series and was convicted in 2019 of eight felony counts including grand larceny, said she sought approval from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before traveling from New York to Los Angeles to shoot the long-running ABC celebrity competition show. Delvey (born Anna Sorokin) will be among the 13 stars vying for the latest Mirror Ball trophy when “DWTS” returns later this month.
“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 on Wednesday shortly after her casting was announced.
Delvey, 33, was released from prison in February 2021 and was taken into ICE custody months later after immigration authorities claimed she overstayed her visa and must return to her native Germany. In October 2022, a judge ruled that Delvey could be confined to her home as she fights her deportation case. Delvey was also ordered to wear an ankle bracelet.
Now, the monitor is Delvey’s ballroom accessory.
When “DWTS” unveiled its full lineup, it described Delvey in a press release as a “notorious ankle bracelet fashionista” who will partner with pro Ezra Sosa. Delvey’s “DWTS” cast photo shows her in a gold sequined dress and ballroom shoes with her ankle monitor just above her right foot.
Con artist Anna Delvey, who inspired Netflix’s “Inventing Anna,” will star in Season 33 of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
(Andrew Eccles / Disney)
When asked whether the ankle bracelet would affect her moves, Delvey assured THR that “it’s actually pretty light.”
Ahead of her “DWTS” debut, Delvey faced backlash on social media for her casting. Some fans on a Reddit page dedicated to “DWTS” questioned Devley’s “star” status, referring to her swindling people and businesses out of $275,000. Other fans joked, “this is iconic.”
Delvey’s casting also became a talking point on Thursday’s episode of “The View,” with co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar and Sara Haines sharing their two cents.
“I think back to all the families who’ve had family members arrested by ICE, who have gone to the courts to get their dad or their brother or their mother back and this woman they gave her permission to go do this,” Goldberg said. “Now, should I think there’s a reason … is there a two-tiered system here with ICE?”
Hostin added: “I like a come-up but when are there consequences to people’s actions?”
Amid the backlash, Delvey told People, “it’s just not that serious.”
“If someone is that upset about casting on a dancing show, I don’t know what to tell them,” she added.
Olympians Ilona Maher and Stephen Nedoroscik, “Bachelorette” star Jenn Tran, Dwight Howard, Tori Spelling and Phaedra Parks are also among the latest celebrity dance competitors.
Season 33 of “Dancing With the Stars,” co-hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, premieres Sept. 17 on ABC.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.