Infamous con artist Anna Delvey’s stint on Dancing With the Stars has already come to an unceremonious end, and if you were expecting her to foxtrot away with any valuable life lessons, I’m literally so sorry.
Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, is best known for defrauding banks and human beings while posing as a German trust fund baby. By falsifying her wealth, she ripped both people and businesses off, which netted her thousands of dollars. She was convicted on multiple charges in 2019, including grand larceny and theft of services, and went on to become the focal point of Netflix’s Inventing Anna, which thrust her criminal past into the limelight and ultimately onto the dance floor.
After joining ABC’s 33rd season of DWTS, she was partnered with professional dancer Ezra Sosa and went on to perform “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter during week 1 and “Suddenly I See” by K.T. Tunstall in week 2. However, the duo’s cha-cha-cha and quickstep dances left much to be desired, resulting in a far fall from the 30-max score with an 18 and a 17, respectively.
America agreed with the judges — they had seen enough of Delvey. She was the first ousted during the season-opening double elimination. With her time on Dance With the Stars coming to a close so quickly, Delvey was asked what she would take away from the experience. Known for her signature arrogant bluntness, she gave a one-word answer that quickly made waves across the Internet.
“Nothing,” Delvey said after being eliminated. Yes, you heard that right: Anna Delvey will take nothing away from her Dancing With the Stars experience ⏤ except her ankle monitor, of course.
In a post-elimination interview with Entertainment Tonight after the fact, Sosa shared that he wasn’t leaving with nothing; in fact, he revealed that he had a whole new understanding and appreciation for the con artist. “I learned a lot dancing with Anna,” Sosa said. “But, I also got to see how she is on the inside. And like, she’s really misunderstood. I really think that with the cameras on and everything, she kind’ve closes herself off. Even though our journey was cut short, think if we kept on going everyone would have see that softer side of her.”
Delvey joins the ever-growing list of stars who sold their dancing shoes first during Dancing With the Stars‘ nearly 20-year run, including last season’s comedian Matt Walsh, Sex and the City actor Jason Lewis on season 31, The Karate Kid actor Martin Kove from season 30, and ex-NBA staple Charles Oakley. Although she’s gone, season 33 still features a roster chock full of recognizable figures, like Family Matters’ Reginald VelJohnson, The Bachelorette’s Jenn Tran, Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher, NBA’s Dwight Howard, and The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Phaedra Parks.
Because of the impending vice presidential debate in the United States, there’s no new episode of Dancing With the Stars next week, but it will return to the airwaves on Monday, Oct. 7. Whether or not Delvey will return to television screens anytime soon is another story.