As “Dancing With the Stars” launches its 33rd season, the beloved ABC dance competition show faced fan backlash Wednesday for announcing that con artist and “notorious ankle bracelet fashionista” Anna Delvey would be included in its lineup of celebrity contestants.
Delvey’s participation in the show was announced Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America;” she’ll join the likes of former NBA star Dwight Howard, troubled “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Tori Spelling and Jenn Tran, “The Bachelorette” lead whose season ended in heartbreak just Tuesday night, Associated Press reported. Each of the 13 celebrity contestants will pair up with professional ballroom dancers to compete for the famed mirror-ball trophy.
Anna Delvey, also known as Anna Sorokin, poses at her apartment in New York on May 26, 2023, to promote her podcast, “The Anna Delvey Show.” (AP Photo/John Carucci) John Carucci/Associated Press
But Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, sparked many of the headlines and social media chatter following Wednesday’s Season 33 announcement, with fans calling her participation in the show “a disgrace” because of the fact that she’s convicted fraudster who faked being a wealthy German heiress to con various Manhattanites into giving her hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, goods and services. Delvey, whose exploits inspired the hit Netflix show, “Inventing Anna,” is currently on house arrest after posting a $10,000 bond. She wears the aforementioned electronic ankle bracelet for GPS monitoring as she fights her deportation to Germany.
But as people questioned how low “DWTS” will go to attract publicity, they may have forgotten that Delvey is not the first controversial personality to compete on the beloved family-friendly show, usually in order to win favorable publicity and the chance to rehabilitate their public image, as Us Weekly reported. The show seems to like to stir up controversy every few years, often under the guise of building a dramatic redemption narrative around a problematic celebrity.
“Dancing With the Stars” also has been in the news over the past week, due to the arrest of one of its long-time professional dancers. Artem Chigvintsev was arrested last week week in Napa County on suspicion of domestic violence and is not scheduled to be on the show this season. His met his wife, former WWE star Nikki Garcia, when she competed on the show and he was professional partner.
As for controversial “DWTS” contestants, the trend began with Season 5 in 2007, when pro boxer Floyd Mayweather was invited to compete on the show, despite his history of domestic violence, Us Weekly reported.
Two years later, not everyone was happy when former GOP politician, Tom DeLay, the House majority leader from 2003 to 2005, competed on the show during Season 9 in 2009, Us Weekly also reported. Four years earlier, DeLay had been been indicted on charges of conspiring to violate political fundraising law, leading to his resignation. His 2011 conviction, however, was later overturned.
Host, Tom Bergeron, with Paula Deen and Louis Van Amstel during ‘Dancing with the Stars’ on Monday, October 19, 2015. (ABC/Adam Taylor)
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Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
