Anna Delvey‘s casting on Dancing with the Stars caused quite a stir — and it was quite the point. In a new interview with Variety, DWTS showrunner Conrad Green stood by the show’s decision to bring the convicted fraudster on the show.
“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 the outlet. “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.”
In the interview, Green shared that he thought Delvey would “present very well as a dancer” given her connection to the “world of fashion” and pointed to the fact that people are very curious about seeing her on the show.
“I think people really want to see her. She’s a very valid and interesting part of that cast,” Green said. “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,” he added.
Delvey became famous after being arrested in 2017 for posing as a wealthy German heiress to defraud wealthy folks, banks, and hotels. She was convicted in 2019 and was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison, although she was released in 2021 for good behavior.
Delvey has been fighting a deportation case and is living on house arrest. Delvey told People that she received special permission from ICE to compete on the show as long as she kept on her ankle bracelet.
“Well, [DWTS] approached my team and I had to request ICE for permission to travel out of state because it’s being filmed in Los Angeles and I’m based in New York,” she told the outlet. “It took them about 10 days to get it through the system and to get everything approved.”
ABC announced the lineup for the show’s 33rd season, which will premiere on Sept. 17 on the network and Disney+, last Wednesday. This year’s contestants include Tori Spelling, Family Matters star Reginald VelJohnson, Eric Roberts, reality TV star Phaedra Parks, and Ilona Maher, the U.S. Olympian who won the bronze this summer in rugby.
