No one has been able to monetize a terrible German accent and a personality disorder as effectively as Anna Delvey. The fraudster, who in 2019 was convicted of posing as a German heiress and swindling members of the New York art scene, has parlayed her career as a felon into a popular Netflix show, a podcast, and a burgeoning art career , despite not having any apparent talent whatsoever. Now, she’s about to add another credit to her resume: a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.
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On Wednesday, ABC announced the lineup for the show’s 33rd season, which will premiere on Sept. 17 on the network and Disney+. This year’s contestants include actor Tori Spelling, Family Matters star Reginald VelJohnson, actor Eric Roberts, reality TV star Phaedra Parks, and Ilona Maher, the U.S. Olympian who won the bronze this summer in rugby.
Upon hearing the cast list for the upcoming season, one will likely have two reactions: First, Tori Spelling and Eric Roberts have never been on Dancing with the Stars before?! And second, hasn’t Anna Delvey been fighting a deportation case for the past few years? How, then, can she compete in a dance competition that famously shoots in Los Angeles? As it turns out, Delvey, who spent more than a year in ICE custody related to her immigration status, is currently on house arrest, a fact a promo photo for DWTS not-so-slyly nods to in which she pairs a sparkly dress with an ankle bracelet.
As the Associated Press reports, it’s unclear how, exactly, Delvey will be able to film DWTS in light of the restrictions on her travel. What is clear is that the girls, gays, and theys are absolutely tickled pink by her casting. “Anna Delvey having to wear an ankle monitor in her #DWTS promo photo is absolute perfection,” reads one viral tweet, while another gushes that Delvey “graduated top of her class at the Lindsay Lohan School of Not Giving a Fuck. I’m obsessed.” Slay kween! It’s giving multiple counts of grand larceny and theft of services! Mother is mothering!
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There is another, albeit smaller, faction of individuals who hold the view that a convicted fraudster — seriously, this is how she’s credited on the DWTS Wikipedia page — should not be permitted to hold the vaunted office of celebrity dancing competition contestant. But truth be told, there’s an incredibly lengthy list of individuals who have competed on the show who are arguably much worse. Take Sean Spicer , who followed up his brief and ignominious run as Trump’s press secretary by immediately donning a ruffled neon shirt and dancing the flamenco (poorly) on DWTS’ s 28th season. Or former House majority leader Tom DeLay, who resigned from his post in disgrace after he was charged with campaign finance violations in 2006, then topped that off by cha-chaing with Cheryl Burke in Season Nine. Or former Texas governor Rick Perry, best known for comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and vetoing a ban on executing mentally disabled inmates, who then went on to score atrociously while dancing to the Green Acres theme on Season 23.
The truth is, DWTS has a lengthy history of laundering terrible people’s reputations by forcing them to wear ruffled shirts and do the flamenco with Val Chmerkovskiy, and Anna Delvey is no exception (though Delvey will be paired with a new cast member, Ezra Sosa, who was just promoted from troupe member to regular). Frankly, given the recent trend toward the yassification of convicted criminals on social media, it’s more surprising that Delvey hasn’t been asked to compete on DWTS already. Just be thankful Gypsy Rose Blanchard is pregnant, so no one asked her first.
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