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On Tuesday, Anna Delvey and her dance partner Ezra Sosa were one of the first two couples eliminated from this season of Dancing With the Stars. The other couple eliminated was Tori Spelling and Pasha Pashkov. While Anna and Ezra’s elimination wasn’t a complete surprise – she wasn’t very good and faced a lot of backlash from people who wondered why the heck she was on the show in the first place – her final words did cause a bit of an uproar. When host Julianne Hough asked her after being voted out what she’d take from her time with the show, Anna giggled and replied, “Nothing.”
On Wednesday, Entertainment Weekly spoke with DWTS judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who had been outspoken in her support for the audience treating Anna respectfully. Naturally, they asked her about Anna’s final words. Carrie Ann responded by saying that she was “taken aback” by Anna’s snotty response, noting that it was pretty dismissive of not only the chance the show took on her but disrespectful to Ezra as well. Carrie Ann felt that Anna could have continued her redemption bid by being graceful and grateful about her experience.
Entertainment Weekly: Anna Delvey and Tori Spelling were the first two contestants to go home. Did either of those results surprise you?
Carrie Ann Inaba: I was taken aback by [Anna’s] comment when asked what she learned from being on the show, and she flatly said, “Nothing.” That 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. But I don’t think she could see that and it’s a shame. A little gratitude could have changed the narrative.
EW: You urged viewers to give Anna a chance on the premiere. Do you feel like this result means they did not?
Carrie Ann: I think our audience did what felt right to them. And that’s the beauty of DWTS for our fans. Our fans are passionate and engaged and they vote for who they want to win the Mirrorball trophy. But I’d like to point out something important. Our fans don’t vote people off. That is not our format. Unlike Survivor we don’t vote people off. Our fans vote for who they want to win.
Carrie Ann is completely right here. Anna claims that this whole experience was supposed to be about changing people’s perspective and opinion of her. I think she would have gotten a more positive spin if she had taken the elimination in good stride, like Tori Spelling did. The game isn’t over just because you’re not a contestant anymore, if you know what I mean.
And if you think that everyone is making too big of a deal about Anna’s “Nothing!” comment, her full exit interview with Ezra for Good Morning, America was equally awkward. At one point, she mentions that her second chance had been “wasted.” Poor Ezra tries his best to steer her in the right direction and he really makes an admirable attempt, but it takes her a hot minute to take his cues. When asked what her favorite part about being on the show was, Ezra tries to coax her into saying that it was dancing with him, but she ignores him at first to respond, “Getting eliminated.” He steps in then to have them ask her again, in which she then correctly responds that it was dancing with him and then they pivot to talking about her fashion, including the blinged-out ankle monitor. Woo boy. It’s an awkward watch. I can’t tell if she really was flustered and thrown off her game or if it was the true Anna coming out. I do think, however, that this will probably be the end of her very short-lived reality TV career.
I’m only familiar with Delvey from news stories and this site, but if this is how she presents herself in public, I don’t get how she was able to charm people out of their money.
Yeah she showed zero charm or grace there. But that said, there’s some dialogue in the Netflix fictionalized series about her adopting the DGAF attitude was part of the faux-rich persona and allure. She seems to believe her own hype that she’s fabulous, when clearly she’s insignificant and rude.
I wonder if The Hollywood Reporter will write an article about how rude she was 🙄
I hope the producers pair her dance partner with a better person next year because yikes, the humiliation for that poor guy.
It almost seems like a DWTS initiation for the new cast. Wasn’t Rylie’s partner last year difficult, and now she’s with the amazing, and hard working, Stephen Nedoroscik.
My vote…it was the true Anna coming out. She’s no different in any of the interviews I’ve seen/read with her. As someone else commented, makes you wonder how she managed to supposedly charm/convince the people she scammed. Now apparently she’s working with Kelly Cutrone, who also seems quite unpleasant too yet seems to be doing well in spite of it.
I think she is leaning into the true reality show spirit — being an awful person is super easy to do and it very often gets rewarded.
Precisely, Josephine. This definitely won’t be the end of her reality show career, because she’s a classic villain, and we’re all talking about her.
Omarosa 2.0? Maybe she’ll luck out and Trump will hire her, they have so much in common. His spokesperson from prison. Or maybe she’ll be wife number 4. I just think she’s walking white privilege. If she was a black or brown person she would have been on a plane years ago, after her stint in prison.
I have no sympathy for the show or ABC. This woman has shown no remorse for what she has done so I don’t understand why Carrie Ann is taken aback by her response. Maybe she’s more embarrassed because she pleaded for the audience to give Delvey a chance. If this woman was black she wouldn’t have been given these opportunities. Heck she would have been deported already.
Carrie Ann has been on the show for 20 years; she knows how it works. Anna was a loss leader for the show – controversial enough to bring in eyes and a guaranteed early elimination so more pleasant contestants could move on. And Anna got a check for $125,000 – no need to keep up the “charm” once the checks are cashed.
I can’t tell if she’s a sociopath or straight up a psychopath, but she has no ability to empathize and that’s always been true so I don’t know why they were expecting any better of her now.
She is spontaneous and unfortunately has no class. lol she was not trained for charm and/or doesn’t care and it shows. It’s too bad this is what will kill opportunities for her. People don’t like attitudes like this.
Is anyone really surprised by her answers?
OMG, Ezra is adorable and charming. Any old ladies watching this show will eat him up.
And if ICE needs help convincing a judge to boot Anna out of our country, DWTS has a roster of people on speed dial. Because, yes, they did vote her OFF!
This is why Delvey shouldn’t have been cast in the first place.
She’s a fraudster, con artist, and pathological liar – who went to prison for her crimes. Give me a break 🙄
It’s ridiculous they gave this criminal an opportunity like this. she’s a sociopath, don’t know why they are surprised.
It would be nice if any of the money went to her victims. Otherwise, why is she allowed out of her apartment?
So she’s not just ungracious, she’s stupid. That’s what they get for putting her on DWTS and trying to be edgy. Poor Ezra. DWTS owes him an apology as well as the audience.
I’m tired of really awful people being given prominent platforms.
Ezra is a damn cutie, that’s all I’ve got. She can go pound sand.