Ezra Sosa tearfully defended convicted felon Anna Delvey after some critics panned her Dancing With the Stars debut. The pro dancer, 23, shared his thoughts via TikTok on Monday, September 23, revealing what happened behind the scenes of the ABC show’s September 17 premiere in which he and Delvey, 33, hit the dance floor for the first time. “During that whole day, it was just truly the best day ever,” Sosa said.
“In a sense, I felt so much love from literally every single person. Including [Delvey]. On my end, I was feeling so much positivity.
On my partner’s end, she wasn’t receiving the same.” Sosa’s eyes filled with tears as he went on to describe the “hardest part of my day”: Delvey’s reaction to criticism of her on the internet. Following their performance, “She was reading the comments and we couldn’t find her,” he said.
“We finally found her in the bathroom. She was crying. I’ve never seen her like that and it broke my heart.
As her partner, I want to give her the best experience she possibly could [have]. And knowing that that’s not the case, it really did break my heart.” Delvey, who sported a bedazzled ankle monitor to dance the cha-cha, was arrested in 2017 and indicted on multiple counts of grand larceny and misdemeanor theft.
She was released from prison on parole in 2021 and was put under house arrest one year later after being taken into custody for overstaying her visa. (A New York magazine profile about her was adapted for .