The Dancing With the Stars Season 33 cast has been revealed, and The View hosts are slamming one particular celebrity contestant. Among the stars taking to the ballroom in the upcoming season will be infamous “Fake Heiress” Anna Delvey, who was convicted on charges of grand larceny, larceny in the second degree, and theft of services in 2019 and was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison. In 2021, she was released on parole but was soon taken into ICE’s custody for “overstaying her visa.” The following year, she was released from the custody and placed on house arrest.
Via Us Weekly, the hosts of The View did not take too kindly the fact that Delvey was cast on the ABC dancing competition series, as Whoopi Goldberg said, “I think back to all the families who’ve had family members arrested by ICE, who have gone to the courts to get their dad, or their brother or their mother back, and this woman, they gave her permission to go do this. Now, should I think there’s a reason? Is there a two-tiered system here with ICE?”
DANCING WITH THE STARS – ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” stars Anna Delvey.
– Disney/Andrew Eccles)
Delvey shared with The Hollywood Reporter that she “kind of got talked into doing this. I got the permission from ICE, and then it was kind of too late to back out.” While it might be fun for Delvey, Sunny Hostin agreed with her co-host, noting that Delvey “defrauded so many people and then spent about two years in prison and then had to spend another 18 months in prison for overstaying her welcome and overstaying her visa. So, she committed another crime. And what is, I don’t know, the consequence of it? A bejeweled ankle monitor and a spot on a television show. I like a come-up, but when are there consequences to people’s actions?”
After Joy Behar suggested Anna Delvey got special treatment because “she’s pretty,” Goldberg went off. “Well, that’s a little bit of a piss-off,” she said. “And, you know, I like pretty people, too. But I’ve got to say, I’m listening to people bitch about what’s going on at the border, and I listen to people bitch about all these people who shouldn’t be — well, what the hell, man?” Goldberg also noted that Delvey getting cast is a “[f— you] in the face of a lot of people who have been trying to make their way back to this country and families torn apart.”
Dancing With the Stars has seen its fair share of controversial celebrity contestants in the past, so it’s not so surprising that someone like Delvey was added for Season 33. The View hosts are not the only ones unhappy about Delvey dancing with first-time pro Ezra Sosa. It should be interesting to see how they do when DWTS Season 33 premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+.