Anna Delvey has come out swinging against Dancing With the Stars after being kicked off the reality show. Delvey, 33, accused the show of using her “to drive up the ratings” and complained about her experience on the show in an interview with NBC News on Thursday, September 26. “I feel that the show so obviously used me to drive up the ratings, that they never had any plans to give me any chance to grow and only cared about exploiting me for attention,” she said.

“It was predatory of them to try [to] make me feel inadequate and stupid, all while I did get progressively better, yet they chose to disregard that.” The convicted criminal added that she “felt like I was never really given a fair chance by the viewers or some of the judges, given their nonsensical scoring.” Delvey was arrested in 2018 and remained in prison through her sentencing the following year.

She served two years after being convicted on charges of grand larceny, second-degree larceny and theft of services. Delvey was released from prison in 2022 after paying $10,000 bail and placed on house arrest. Her saga was dramatized for the Netflix series Inventing Anna.

Her controversial past may have thrust her into the spotlight, but Delvey said she believed she got the short end of the stick on the show because of her reputation. In the interview with NBC News , Delvey complained the reality show was “supposed to be a dance competition and not a popularity contest.” Delvey was eliminated on the.