There are a lot of bad guys in the world. I am, as I write this, watching the second Scott Peterson documentary of 2024. Crooks and criminals and scammers abound in the good old US of A. Is Anna Delvey one of them? Sure. But, like I always say to my mother when she clutches her pearls after I drive her somewhere: “Did anyone die?”
Dancing With The Stars is, at best, a show that pokes fun at the idea of celebrity. This year was like any other in that half of the cast was people I’d never heard of, and the other half was only kind of famous people who happened to be trendy at the time of casting. Delvey is, I guess, one of the latter.
But like so many reality and competition shows of late, DWTS has lost the plot just a tad and started to take itself a little too seriously. So, when Delvey was one of the first contestants to get eliminated after performing a cha-cha and a quickstep that can only be described as severe with her ICE ankle monitor bedazzled and feathered to match her costumes, and said she would take “Nothing” away from her experience, judge Carrie Ann Inaba gasped, and I cheered.
“I was taken aback by her comment,” Inaba told Entertainment Weekly. “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.”
What did Inaba think was going to happen? Delvey was going to come on an amateur dance competition show and all of her haters would come around after seeing her give the foxtrot an honest try? ICE would remove her ankle monitor and let her run free? Please, this was theater, darling. Y’all made her famous again—isn’t that everything she ever wanted?
Also, I think Ezra’s gonna be just fine. He’s in on the joke, and he got paid. Better luck next year.