Carrie Ann Inaba Defends ‘DWTS’ Fans After Anna Delvey’s Divisive Exit

Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba has defended fans’ decision not to vote for Anna Delvey, following her divisive quip as she made an early exit from the show.

Convicted con artist Delvey and Beverly Hills, 90210 star Tori Spelling were the first two contestants to be eliminated from Season 33 of DWTS in a double exit on September 24 as the ABC competition’s second week concluded.

Following the elimination, Delvey—whose real name is Anna Sorokin—spoke with Julianne Hough, one of the show’s hosts, who asked her what she would be taking away from her brief stint on the show.

Standing beside her professional dance partner Ezra Sosa, Delvey bluntly replied: “Nothing.” Newsweek has contacted a representative of Delvey via email for comment.

“There you have it,” Hough said in response, while her co-host Alfonso Ribeiro playfully hit back at Delvey: “You had fun. Stop it,”

Inaba has since spoken out about Delvey’s remark, telling Entertainment Tonight that she found it “dismissive.” She added that the ousted contestant would likely have benefited from showing “a little gratitude.”

“I was taken aback by her comment when asked what she learned from being on the show, and she flatly said, ‘Nothing,'” Inaba said. “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,” Inaba added.

When the latest season premiered, Inaba urged viewers to give Delvey a chance. With Delvey being one of the first to be shown the door, Entertainment Weekly asked if it was evidence of the audience not taking her advice to heart.

“I think our audience did what felt right to them,” Inaba responded. “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.”

After losing her place on the show, Delvey spoke with a journalist at Good Morning America, who asked her what she liked most about being on DWTS. “Getting eliminated,” Delvey responded, before Sosa urged her to reword her response to declare dancing with him as her favorite element.

For their part, the official Instagram account for DWTS shared video footage of Delvey’s remark, alongside the caption: “Anna stays unbothered,” alongside a laughing emoji. Delvey was among the thousands of Instagram users who liked the post.

Hours earlier, Delvey posted the same clip on her Instagram grid, with the theme song for HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm playing after she shared her one-word response.

In 2019, Delvey, a Russian-born German citizen, was convicted of swindling hotels, banks and friends out of hundreds of thousands of dollars after convincing them she was a German heiress.

Delvey was found guilty of eight theft-related charges including attempted grand larceny in the first degree and theft of services. After serving nearly four years in prison, she was released in February 2021 and taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for overstaying her visa.

In October 2022, she was released from ICE custody and is on house arrest as a result of her immigration case, which is why she was seen wearing an ankle monitor during her brief stint on DWTS.

Delvey’s crimes were depicted in the 2022 Netflix miniseries Inventing Anna.