Anna Delvey tells Tori Spelling she's not 'some abuser' after shared 'DWTS' eliminations

Anna Delvey is inventing a life after "Dancing with the Stars" and spilling all the details to co-star Tori Spelling.

The fashionista got candid during a Saturday episode of Spelling's iHeartRadio podcast "Misspelling" about her stoic public persona, which drew criticism from "DWTS fans." Delvey, who said her and Spelling's double eliminations were "suspicious," had a surprising response when asked by the "Beverly Hills, 90210" alum if she was nervous on "DWTS."

"The way I've been introduced into the public eye, I went through my criminal trial and when you're in court, it's obviously like a public courtroom so anyone can come in, they take pictures of you all day, every day (for) about seven hours and there's nothing you can do about it," Delvey told Spelling.

Delvey said it felt “a bit upsetting” and like “a waste of time” to be “discarded so easily.” She added that “it was not that surprising” she got eliminated because her audience trends younger and said it was embarrassing to be eliminated before some of the other contestants including Eric Roberts and Reginald VelJohnson who received lower scores.

Delvey, born Anna Sorokin, was cast on Season 33 of "Dancing with the Stars" after she was accused of scheming to finance a lavish lifestyle and her personal business plans, stealing $275,000 from hotels, banks and lavish New Yorkers. She was convicted in 2019 of grand larceny and served a little more than three years of her four- to 12-year prison sentence.

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She said she thought her dancing was "decent." During the first two weeks of competition, she scored a 36 out of 60 points for her two dances. Delvey also admitted that she doesn't "know much about the show" and only watched the season in which JoJo Siwa was paired with pro Jenna Johnson during Season 30 in 2021.

Delvey continued: "I'm used to always being on guard, and it doesn't benefit you to cry or show any emotion because it would always be interpreted in some way that's not beneficial to you," adding later that she was "nervous."

"I think my focus was 'oh, it's a dancing competition' so it's like I have to perform like the steps because that's how I've been trained," Delvey said, adding after that she was born in Russia and classically trained in ballet. She told Spelling that her philosophy from her training was that "you have to do the steps, nobody wants to see you smile" and "in ballet, you don't smile."

When discussing smiling during their performances on "DWTS," Delvey asked Spelling if she found it "jarring for people to demand women to smile in 2024" and told the "True Tori" star that the criticism was based off "remnants of kind of like the old patriarchal" beliefs.

"You can only be good and considered to be good when you look pretty and smile," Delvey said.

Delvey said "you never know" with the pros and couldn't tell if the pro-celebrity relationships were "sincere."

"It's like obviously they're being trained with how to treat you and like you never know what's sincere and what's just a job and that was kind of like my main issue with being on the show," she told Spelling, before calling her first-year pro dancer partner Ezra Sosa a "very sweet person."

She later specified that it wasn't her "main issue" but one of her issues with the reality ballroom competition.

Delvey told Spelling that "either scenario, he wins. If I do well, he does well. If I do badly, it's my fault because he's the new one and I'm so bad and just negative." The inspiration for Netflix's "Inventing Anna," which starred Julia Garner, said that she's "not, like, some abuser" and she's "not torturing him" in response to criticism from "DWTS" fans, who commented negatively on social media about Sosa's partnership with her.

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Delvey said she took 'nothing' from the show after elimination

The "DWTS" move to bring Delvey to the ballroom floor delivered headlines from the start: Delvey having to get US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's permission to compete after the agency detained her in 2021 for overstaying her visa; a now-infamous ankle monitor adorning Delvey during the show; and a difficult dance debut.

Delvey was eliminated from the dance competition Tuesday night, after performing a quickstep with partner Ezra Sosa. Asked by host Julianne Hough what she took from her time on the show, Delvey was curt: "Nothing." Hough called the response "iconic" in an Instagram post after the fact.

Delvey opened up previously to in an emailed statement to USA TODAY earlier this month prior to her appearance on Spelling's podcast.

"I was very nervous going into my first dance, but I think I did well under the circumstances. The room went silent. It was clear I wasn't a fan favorite — yet. But I'm going to keep working at it. And I hope I can win people over with my work effort and perseverance. I'm not giving up," Delvey told USA TODAY.

"You know what, I'm a fighter, I'm the underdog," Delvey continued in her statement.

Contributing: Taijuan Moorman