Convicted con artist Anna Delvey has been working hard to build her post-incarceration life, dipping into New York Fashion Week, podcasting, and a docuseries (among other hustles) as she awaits the outcome of her immigration case. But a recent effort to trade fabricated societal standing for actual celebrity might have been a step backwards for the Inventing Anna subject, if her recent comments are any indication. Reality TV, Delvey seems to be learning, can be a game that’s even dirtier than some of Delvey’s most infamous scams.
Anna Delvey, who also went by Anna Sorokin during her early years in New York, was famously convicted of second-degree grand larceny, theft of services, and first-degree attempted grand larceny in 2019, for which she was sentenced to four years in prison. The notorious grifter, who posted as a wealthy heiress interested in launching an arts-focused social organization, had used lies and half-truths to scam multiple people in her social circle out of thousands of dollars, prosecutors successfully argued, crimes detailed in the Netflix series bearing her name.
After her release from prison, she was placed in a New York immigration detention facility for allegedly outstaying her visa. She’s since been released on an electronically monitored “house arrest,” while her attorney argues that she should receive asylum in the U.S. due to fears that she might face dangerous conditions if deported.
The definition of “house” grew more elastic for Delvey in September, when she was cast in Los Angeles-based reality competition series Dancing With The Stars, a show that has offered image rehab for folks including former Donald Trump spokesperson Sean Spicer and fabulist Olympian Ryan Lochte. But unlike the spin doctor and the diver, Delvey struggled to hold her own on the show’s glossy ballroom stage.
When the show premiered last week, Delvey, wearing a monitoring device decorated to match her dress, cha-chaed to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” with professional hoofer Ezra Sosa. Though her turn wasn’t panned by the judges, the studio audience reportedly chilled to Delvey’s charms. “There was a shift in the energy,” judge Carrie Ann Inaba chided those in the stands. “Let’s all give this a chance.”
But Delvey’s chance was up this week when the combination of a low score for a quick step to KT Tunstall’s “Suddenly I See” and a shortfall of viewer votes sent her home in the first round. Her response to the loss was characteristically blunt, with Delvey telling show co-host Julianne Hough that she got “Nothing” from being on the show, and telling GMA that her favorite part of the experience was “getting eliminated.”
In a subsequent email to NBC News, Delvey elaborated on her experience in the competition, and suggested that the deck was stacked against her from the start. “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,” Sorokin said of the ABC series.
“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.”
“It felt like I was never really given a fair chance by the viewers or some of the judges’ given their nonsensical scoring,” Delvey said in an interview with NBC. “It’s supposed to be a dance competition and not a popularity contest.”
Inaba was taken aback by Delvey’s criticism, telling Entertainment Weekly that Delvey “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.”
“We all put in the effort to give her a fair opportunity,” the judge continued. “But I don’t think she could see that and it’s a shame. A little gratitude could have changed the narrative.”
On Friday, Hough suggested folks take Delvey’s complaints with a grain of salt. Speaking with People, the dancer-turned-host said, “I’m always a big believer in grace and second chances and showing up. Also, it’s hard to go out first in the competition.”
Though Delvey was among the first to go home, it’s unlikely that she’ll be aware of who makes it to the grand finale. According to NBC, the New Yorker is hopeful that actor Reginald VelJohnson (who dedicated his most recent performance to his Die Hard co-star Bruce Willis) will win the season, but she won’t be following it closely enough to find out. “I don’t watch TV,” she said.
Eve Batey
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