Anna Delvey, also know as the “Fake Heiress,” has some ideas on how to freshen up the Dancing With The Stars format.
The Russian-born Delvey was a competitor on the current season of the ABC reality dancing TV series, but was eliminated in the second week alongside actress Tori Spelling.
Delvey, whose given name is Anna Sorokin, rose to notoriety after her crimes were immortalized in the Netflix drama, Inventing Anna. She was jailed in 2019 for multiple counts of grand larceny and upon her release in 2021, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on suspicion she had overstayed her visa.
Her casting on DWTS sparked fury because of her criminal past and the fact she must wear an ICE-enforced ankle monitor while under home detainment as she fights deportation from the U.S.
Delvey spoke about her short stint on DWTS and some “funny” ideas she has for the show on the most recent episode of Spelling’s podcast, MisSpelling.
“I think it would have been interesting if they had like a shuffle episode,” Delvey suggested, and explained it could involved the competing celebrities switching up the professional dancers they had been paired with.
“It would have been interesting to do a partner switch, even just for a day or for training… maybe you do it in the week where there’s only six couples left. Maybe it would be fun and then you just see whoever works best.”
Anna Delvey attends the Private Policy fashion show during New York Fashion Week on September 11, 2024 in New York City. The convicted fraudster had some ideas on how to improve “Dancing With The Stars.”
Dominik Bindl/Getty Images
Another idea Delvey had for DWTS would be for the celebrities to pair up and dance together.
“I thought it would be funny for them to do is celebrity with celebrity… so it is maybe not as part of the main episode, but maybe a five-minute special,” she said.
Newsweek contacted ABC by email on Monday morning outside office hours for comment.
Delvey also managed to provoke anger when she was eliminated in week two of DWTS.
When asked by host Julianne Hough as to what she learned from her time on the show, Delvey replied “nothing.” Many people reacted negatively to it, but Spelling defended her co-star on a previous episode of her podcast, explaining it was just Delvey’s brand of humor.
The convicted con-artist spoke to Newsweek after her elimination and said she wanted to “reclaim her narrative.”
“I’ve been filming a feature-length documentary for a major platform that I can’t wait for everyone to see,” Delvey told Newsweek via email on Thursday. “I feel like my story has been told for me by other people, so I’m excited to reclaim my narrative and get the opportunity to tell my own story.”
