The 33rd season of Dancing With The Stars is set to premiere on Tuesday night. Of the thirteen celebrities on the cast, the most controversial is undoubtedly Anna Delvey. Indeed, she is a convicted felon who is currently under house arrest.
Dancing With The Stars Showrunner Speaks Out
While many have argued that Delvey has no business being on the cast, Dancing with the Stars showrunner Conrad Green is standing by the decision to include her. In a new interview, Green is opening up about why exactly he cast Delvey, 33.
“We’ve always tried to be a very broad church when it comes to the types of people, the types of backgrounds, the types of stories we have on the show,” Green told Variety. “Anna is fascinating to a lot of people, a lot of people have watched the dramas about her life and have followed her story, so I think there is an inherent curiosity about her.”
Green went on to say that Delvey is experienced with the “world of fashion.” He added that he thinks fans will “really want to see her” hit the dance floor.
“She’s a very valid and interesting part of that cast,” he explained. “Yes, she had the issues she’s had, but we’ve had other people on the show who’ve had criminal issues in the past. She served her time.”
“I think it’s perfectly valid for her to be on the show, and I think people have been really curious to see how she performs,” Green concluded.
Backstory: ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Season 33 Cast Is Out – Here’s Who’s On It
Delvey’s Disturbing History
Delvey infamously posed as a wealthy German heiress in New York City. She proceeded to use her position to defraud banks, hotels, and rich people. After being arrested in 2017, Delvey was convicted of grand larceny in the first, second and third degree as well as theft of services in 2019.
Delvey was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison, but was released in February of 2021 for good behavior. Unfortunately for her, however, she was quickly taken into custody by ICE for violating the terms of her visa. In the years since then, Delvey has been under house arrest in New York City while she wages a legal battle against her deportation.
After being cast on Dancing With The Stars, Delvey told People Magazine that she had been given special permission from ICE to compete. Officials said she could compete on the show if she would continue wearing her ankle bracelet.
This enraged the actress Whoopi Goldberg, who sounded off about the situation on her ABC talk show The View. ABC is the same network that airs Dancing With The Stars, yet Goldberg still blasted the Delvey casting decision.
“I think back to all the families who’ve had family members arrested by ICE, who have gone to the courts to get their dad or their mother or their brother back,” Goldberg said earlier this month. “And this woman, they gave her permission to go do this. Now, should I think there’s a reason. Is there a two-tiered system here with ICE?”
Check out Goldberg’s full comments on that in the video below.
Dancing With The Stars Season 33
Delvey has been partnered up with Ezra Sosa. This will be his first Dancing With The Stars season competing as a pro.
The other twelve celebrities in the competition are Stephen Nedoroscik, Ilona Maher, Tori Spelling, Anna Delvey, Joey Graziadei, Phaedra Parks, Chandler Kinney, Dwight Howard, Eric Roberts, Brooks Nader, Jenn Tran, and Danny Amendola.
Dancing with the Stars season 33 premieres on Tuesday, September 17 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+. It will then be available to stream the next day on Hulu.
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