Anna Delvey lashes out at 'Dancing with the Stars,' claims show used and exploited her

Anna Delvey has lashed out at Dancing with the Stars claiming the ABC reality dancing competition used and exploited her.


"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," Anna told NBC News.

"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."

RELATED LINK: 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' PROS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: WHO'S DATING OR MARRIED TO WHOM!? (PHOTOS)

On Dancing with the Stars' September 24 broadcast, Anna and her professional partner Ezra Sosa only received 17 out of 30 possible points from DWTS judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli for their quickstep performance to "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall.


One week prior, Anna and Ezra had received 18 judges' points for their cha cha to "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter.

Following their very first performance of the season, Carrie Ann asked viewers to give Anna a chance because she could tell the studio audience wasn't very supportive or receptive of her.

"It felt like I was never really given a fair chance by the viewers or some of the judges given their nonsensical scoring," Anna lamented to NBC News.

"It's supposed to be a dance competition and not a popularity contest."

Anna was arrested in 2017 and indicted on multiple counts of grand larceny and misdemeanor theft.


Anna was released from prison on parole in 2021 but was detained weeks later by ICE for overstaying her visa, which landed her back in prison for 18 more months.

Anna was released on a $10,000 bond and put on house arrest in October 2022, and her story about fraudulently posing as a wealthy German heiress was developed into the 2022 miniseries Inventing Anna on Netflix.

Fans have criticized Dancing with the Stars for "glorifying" a felon, and The View co-co-host Whoopi Goldberg reportedly complained about how Anna had received "special treatment" from the government to compete on the show.

Anna admitted she was "hesitant" to compete on Dancing with the Stars to begin with, and it appears she now has regrets considering her participation resulted in so much backlash.

Anna said her Dancing with the Stars stint made her realize "how easily people will judge you without getting to know you or the true facts of your story.:


She also pointed out how people with a criminal record have competed on Dancing with the Stars before and there's an obvious "double standard" surrounding her casting.

"I'm trying to start a new chapter moving past mistakes I made and regret when I was much younger," Anna explained.

"Not sure when people will finally afford me that second chance and stop persecuting me so I have the opportunity to move on with my life."

Anna said the hate she's been receiving on social media has been overwhelming.

Ezra even revealed on TikTok earlier this week that he found Anna in the bathroom crying and it broke his heart because she's actually a "really sweet" person who is simply "misunderstood."


Anna shared of her emotional reaction to the negativity, "I hadn't been on social media in over seven years."

"I felt good after my first dance but was not prepared for the hatred directed at me online and just how mean-spirited people can be hiding behind their keyboards," she elaborated.

Anna noted that she probably won't continue watching Dancing with the Stars' 33rd season, although she hopes TV actor Reginald VelJohnson will win.

"I don't watch TV," she concluded.

Dancing with the Stars' showrunner Conrad Green defended Anna's casting in a recent interview with Variety.


"Anna is fascinating to a lot of people... so I think there is an inherent curiosity about her," Conrad said.

"She's a very valid and interesting part of that cast. Yes, she had the issues she's had, but we've had other people on the show who've had criminal issues in the past."

After the convicted felon and Ezra were eliminated at the end of Tuesday night's show, Dancing with the Stars co-host Julianne Hough asked Anna to share what she was going to take away from her experience.

Anna replied, "Nothing," as Ezra, who was standing by his celebrity partner, flashed a look of surprise on his face and shook his head.

"There you have it! Absolutely nothing," Julianne said with a laugh, before host Alfonso Ribeiro quipped, "You had fun, stop it. Stop it!"

Reality TV star Tori Spelling and her pro partner Pasha Pashkov were also ousted from Dancing with the Stars in a special double-elimination episode, but when Tori was asked to describe her time on the show, she gushed about how it was "unbelievable."


Anna's "nothing" comment went viral, and she's been sharing some of the memes she inspired via Instagram Stories.

Carrie Ann slammed Anna's remark in an interview with Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday.

"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 -- from the dancers to behind the scenes to the creative team," Carrie Ann said.

The Dancing with the Stars judge continued to vent, "We all put in the effort to give her a fair opportunity. But I don't think she could see that and it's a shame. A little gratitude could have changed the narrative.

Ezra, for his part, took to Instagram Stories that same day and wrote of the "nothing" remark: "I think she was referring to taking anything away 'physically.'"

But earlier this week, Ezra had suggested that Anna was taking a shot at Dancing with the Stars and didn't really care how her remark would be perceived by the public.


"I knew she was going to say something very iconic and something very Anna Delvey with her exit," Ezra told Extra on Tuesday, September 24.

"Of course, she has to. It's very typical. We would expect nothing less of her."

But Ezra revealed that Anna was actually very kind and gracious to him behind the scenes.

In fact, Anna allegedly felt guilty about Ezra's early ouster from his debut Dancing with the Stars season.

"She honestly kept on apologizing to me," Ezra shared, adding how he wishes they could've stayed longer in the competition.

"She felt super sorry that my first season was cut short... I really wanted to give her a chance to really grow on camera and let America really see who she really is."


But America wasn't really given that chance, and people had formed opinions of Anna right off the bat.

Former Dancing with the Stars pro and guest judge Maksim Chmerkovskiy called Anna "a professional liar" who doesn't really deserve anyone's respect during a Monday, September 23 appearance on the "TMZ Podcast."

"If you want an ankle [bracelet] and sort of this, 'Damn, this is going to draw attention,' and the scandalousness of it all -- I mean, man, there's so many other people you can choose from," Maksim complained.

Maksim confessed he was "absolutely not" a fan of Anna and he couldn't believe a word that she said.

Maksim went on to critique Anna's first cha cha performance with Ezra for which she had bedazzled her ankle monitor.

"She wasn't great. She was very kind of standoffish in a lot of things," Maksim explained.


"You can blame the nerves and say, 'Hey, everybody's human and this person is not used to that stage.' Bullsh-t."

Maksim said fooling the world "takes a lot of guts" and so he wasn't buying that Anna was "nervous" to be on TV either.

"She's just a sh-tty dancer, and her personality is not really going to help her in this competition," Maksim said.

RELATED LINK: 'DANCING WITH THE STARS' PROS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHERS: WHO'S DATING OR MARRIED TO WHOM!? (PHOTOS)

When asked to share how many weeks he thought Anna would remain in the Dancing with the Stars competition, Maksim responded, "I don't care... She's not somebody I'd tune in to watch. I feel for [Ezra], he's got an uphill climb -- just even the dancing part of it."

Maksim concluded, "You're going to have to do a lot more to win somebody like me over after everything that you were accused of. But now you get to [serve] your time by bedazzling your ankle brace and being on national TV? I'm not about that."







About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski