Anna Delvey will take to the dance floor wearing her ankle monitor in the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars.
After being convicted for posing as a German heiress and swindling banks, hotels, and socialites out of $250,000, Anna will be featured on the 33rd season of the ABC dance competition.
The network announced the convicted fraudster’s participation on Wednesday (September 4), describing her as “an artist, fashion icon and infamous NYC socialite who gained international attention after Netflix purchased the rights to her story and developed it into the 2022 miniseries Inventing Anna.”
The 33-year-old, born Anna Sorokin, will be partnered up with pro dancer Ezra Sosa.
Anna Delvey, the con artist who posed as a German heiress to scam NYC’s elite, has been announced as a new competitor on Dancing with the Stars
Image credits: theannadelvey
The official announcement features her in a glittering dress, high heels, and the ankle bracelet she has been wearing since 2022.
Anna was first arrested on larceny charges in 2017. Two years later, she was convicted and sentenced to four to twelve years in prison.
The fake heiress was initially released for good behavior in February 2021.
However, she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Custody (ICE) shortly afterward for overstaying her visa.
Anna was in ICE custody for over a year—during which she threw an art show for her prison sketches—and was released on bail to home arrest at her Manhattan apartment in October 2022.
The fraudster will compete in her ankle bracelet, as she’s been under house arrest since 2022
Though her deportation case is ongoing, she was reportedly granted permission to participate in the ABC competition, which is filmed in Los Angeles.
“I had to ask ICE for permission to travel out of state and that took about I think 10 days, so I did not know if I was going to be able to join until mid last week, so everything happened at the very last minute,” Anna told Extra after the cast reveal.
She also revealed her plans to take her dance partner to New York Fashion Week, where she’s reportedly scheduled to walk the SHAO runway.
“I’m so excited to take Ezra to the Fashion Week and he’s going to be walking one of our shows. I’m producing, I think, five shows with Kelly Cutrone this season. We produced a show on my rooftop last year, so on 9/11 it’s going to be our one-year anniversary.”
Among the competitors of the show, set to premiere on September 17, are also Olympic medalist Stephen Nedoroscik — better known as “Pommel Horse Guy” —Rugby player and Olympian Ilona Maher, the Bachelorette star Jenn Tran, and Tori Spelling of Beverly Hills 90210.
People quickly took to social media to protest Anna’s inclusion in the show.
“Why are we having a convicted felon on a TV show? @dancingwiththestars disappointed in this choice,” someone wrote on Instagram.
“You guys are really adding a con artist to the lineup? Is that where we are now?” said a separate user.
“Anna Delvey should not be on DWTS. Children watch this show, not to mention she has to wear an ankle monitor!” another person agreed.
Anna was granted permission by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Custody (ICE) to film in Los Angeles
Somebody else accused the producers of glorifying criminal acts and making a celebrity out of a con artist. “That’s unacceptable. She wasn’t even a celebrity before. I’m so disappointed. Do better.”
Anna was born in Moscow, Russia, in a working-class family. She emigrated to Germany in 2007, after which she moved to London and Paris, only to relocate to New York in 2013.
While living in the US, she was an intern for the French fashion magazine Purple and pretended to be a wealthy German heiress named Anna Delvey. She fooled her rich acquaintances and convinced them that her goal was to open a Soho House for the art world.
Anna faked financial documents and checks to substantiate her claims of having a $60 million trust fund.
Her fraudulent behavior went undetected for years — all while she dined at the best Manhattan restaurants, shopped at the best stores, and slept in the best hotels.
Ultimately, she was arrested when the NYPD collaborated with her former friend, former Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel DeLoache Williams, who accused Anna of conning her out of $62,000.
Rachel had put down her Vanity Fair work credit card to pay for a trip to Morocco when the fraudster’s cards magically didn’t work.
People protested her inclusion in the show, arguing that it glamorized criminals
In 2022, Netflix purchased the rights to her story and developed it into the Shonda Rhimes-created series Inventing Anna. The show is based on the 2018 New York Magazine profile about the con artist written by Jessica Pressler.
In the show — one of Netflix’s all-time most-watched TV series in English — Anna is played by Julia Garner, while the journalist is portrayed by Anna Chlumsky.
The streaming platform reportedly paid Anna $320,000 for the rights to adapt her life into the show. According to insider’s reports, she used the money to pay restitution to the banks, attorney fees, and settle state fines she had.
The 33-year-old, whose story inspired the Netflix show Inventing Anna, was arrested on leniency charges in 2017
Dancing with the Stars won’t be Anna’s first TV appearance since her prison release. Last month, she made a cameo on USA Network’s The Anonymous, a strategic competition series where twelve players have to deceive each other to win $100,000.
“I might know a thing or two about deception,” she said in one of the promo YouTube Shorts called Anna Delvey Reacts. “Never be afraid to dress up your look or the truth. Trust me. I’d never lie to you.”
In a separate video, Anna advised players that “gaslighting can be a great way to get ahead.”
Netizens criticized the show for rewarding criminal behavior
