As Anna Delvey took to the floor for her Dancing With The Stars debut last week, there was one thing the audience were focused on. In the opening moments of her routine, the camera zoomed into Delvey’s ankle, on which she was sporting a multi-coloured crystal encrusted tracking monitor, matching her blue and pink tassled dress. Delvey, dubbed the “fake heiress”, is best to known to many as the notorious convicted fraudster who served almost four years in prison after stealing more than $200,000 from multiple business, and was subsequently put on house arrest for overstaying her visa in the US.
Legal name Anna Sororkin, the 33-year-old is the latest in a long line of contestants on the ABC dance show who were seemingly selected for the controversy — and therefore viewing figures —they were likely to generate. Critics have accused ABC of glamourising her crimes — the New York Post called it a “new low for pop culture”. Others have also queried how she even has the right to live and work in the US as a German-Russian citizen.
During an impassioned debate on talk show The View, Whoopi Goldberg said her appearance on Dancing with the Stars, despite her ongoing immigration charges, is evidence of a “two-tier immigration system” which she suggested favours the rich and elite. Delvey’s story is now one of infamy. She arrived on the Manhattan scene in 2013 and quickly dazzled the art and fashion world, posing as a Gatsby-esque German heiress with plans to open Th.
