‘Fake Heiress’ Anna Sorokin to Appear on Dancing With The Stars

Anna Sorokin, the con artist who was convicted in 2019 of defrauding banks, hotels and friends after falsely posing as a wealthy German heiress named Anna Delvey, will compete on US TV show Dancing With The Stars.

Described as the “famous anklet fashionista” in a press release, Sorokin was announced Wednesday on Good Morning America alongside the likes of former NBA star Dwight Howard, actress Tori Spelling and Jenn Tran, the star of The Bachelorette whose season ended Tuesday night.

Tran, the first Asian-American Bachelorette, was a contestant on Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor — and he, too, will be up for the trophy.

Sorokin’s latest starring role is complicated by the ankle bracelet — or electronic tag — she’s been wearing since October 2022, when she began her house arrest — though the series appears to be leaning into it with a promotional image of Sorokin in a sparkly dress and an electronic bracelet on her leg.

Although she was released from prison in February 2021, immigration authorities say she overstayed her visa and must be returned to her native Germany.

The inspiration for Inventing Anna was in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for more than a year before a judge authorized her transfer to home detention in October 2022 while she fights her deportation case.

ICE did not respond to requests for comment on the changes to Sorokin’s house arrest conditions to allow filming in the Los Angeles area. Sorokin’s spokesman, Juda Engelmayer, confirmed Tuesday that she could travel within a 70-mile radius of her home base and anywhere in New York City’s five boroughs under the previous house arrest conditions, but could not comment on the changes to those rules.

While under house arrest, she had to comply with the immigration judge’s condition that she not use social media, but Sorokin launched a podcast, The Anna Delvey Show, which featured guests including comedian Whitney Cummings and technology journalist Taylor Lorenz who visited her apartment in New York’s East Village to record.

“A lot of people have become famous for bad things and managed to turn them into something different,” she said in a June 2023 interview with The Associated Press.

Dancing With The Stars is Sorokin’s first mainstream effort to achieve that goal. She will compete in the upcoming 33rd season, which premieres September 17 in the United States on ABC and Disney+.

Sorokin will join U.S. Olympic team star Stephen Nedoroscik, better known online as Pommel Horse Guy.

The 25-year-old, who won two bronze medals in Paris, was the first to be announced in August, fresh from his Olympics. He became an internet sensation thanks to memes of his pre-competition preparation and Superman-like transformation before hitting the track.

Another American Olympian competing is Ilona Maher, the rugby player and bronze medalist who has become a social media hit for her funny TikToks and body positivity content.

The Alfonso Riberio and Julianne Hough-hosted series also announced that former dance troupe member Ezra Sosa will be among the dancers promoted to “pro” status this season; he is partnered with Sorokin. Artem Chigvintsev, who was arrested last week on domestic violence charges, will not return as a pro.

The full list of celebrities competing in the upcoming season of Dancing With The Stars is:
– Former Super Bowl champion Danny Amendola
– Anna Sorokin, who is introduced as Anna Delvey
–Joey Graziadei from The Bachelor
– Former NBA champion Dwight Howard
– Chandler Kinney, star of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin
– Rugby player and Olympian Ilona Maher
– Model Brooks Nader
– Gymnast and Olympian Stephen Nedoroscik
– Phaedra Parks, lawyer and star of Real Housewives Of Atlanta
– Eric Roberts, actor, brother of Julia and father of Emma
– Tori Spelling of Beverly Hills 90210
– Jenn Tran from The Bachelorette
– Reginald VelJohnson of Family Matters and Die Hard