Nobody has couldn’t monetize a terrible German accent and a personality disorder as effectively as Anna Delvey. The con artist, who was convicted in 2019 of posing as a German heiress and defrauding members of the New York art scene, has parlayed her career as a felon into a popular Netflix show, podcast and budding art career, despite clearly having no talent at all. Now she’s about to add another achievement to her resume: She’s a contestant on Dancing with the stars.
On Wednesday, ABC announced the program for the show’s 33rd season, which premieres on September 17 on the network and Disney+. This year’s contestants include actress Tori Spelling, Family matters Star Reginald VelJohnson, actor Eric Roberts, reality TV star Phaedra Parks and Ilona Maher, the US Olympian who won the bronze medal in rugby this summer.
When you hear the cast list for the upcoming season, you will probably have two reactions: First, Tori Spelling and Eric Roberts never was on Dancing with the stars before?! And secondly, hasn’t Anna Delvey been fighting deportation for several years? How can she then take part in a dance competition that is famously filmed in Los Angeles? As it turns out, Delvey, who spent more than a year in ICE detention due to her immigration status, is currently under house arrest, a fact that a promotional photo for DWTS not so mischievous allusions in which she combines a glittering dress with an anklet.
As Associated Press reports, it is still unclear how exactly Delvey can film DWTS given the travel restrictions. It’s clear that the girls, gays and the rest are thrilled with her casting. “Anna Delvey having to wear an ankle bracelet in her #DWTS promo photo is absolutely perfect,” reads one viral tweet, while another raves that Delvey “graduated top of her class from the Lindsay Lohan school of not giving a fuck. I’m obsessed.” Kill Kween! That’s multiple counts of grand theft and evasion of service! Mother is mother!
There is another, albeit smaller, group of people who believe that a convicted fraudster – seriously, that is how she is described on the DWTS Wikipedia page – should not be allowed to hold the vaunted position of celebrity contestant in a dance competition. But to be honest, there is an incredibly long list of people who have been on the show who are arguably much worse. Take Sean Spicer, for example, who, after his brief and ignominious stint as Trump’s press secretary, immediately put on a ruffled neon shirt and danced (badly) flamenco. ‘The fantastic world of DWTS’s 28th season. Or former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who resigned in disgrace after being indicted for campaign finance violations in 2006, and then upped the ante in season 9 by dancing the cha-cha with Cheryl Burke. Or former Texas Governor Rick Perry, best known for comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and blocking a ban on the execution of mentally disabled prisoners, who then danced to the Green Mornings Theme of the 23rd season.
The truth is, DWTS has a long history of damaging the reputations of terrible people by forcing them to wear ruffled shirts and dance flamenco with Val Chmerkovskiy, and Anna Delvey is no exception (though Delvey is working with a new cast member, Ezra Sosa, who was just promoted from ensemble member to regular). Honestly, given the recent trend of Yassifying convicted criminals on social media, it’s more surprising that Delvey hasn’t been asked to join DWTS yet. Just be glad Gypsy Rose Blanchard is pregnant so no one asked her first.
