Con artist Anna Delvey and the story of her crimes might have been compelling enough for television, but the same can’t be said for her dancing skills, and Rowan students, along with the rest of the world, are conflicted.

After just two weeks on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, Delvey and her partner Ezra Sosa were one of the first two pairs eliminated on the show’s 33rd season. 

The short-run didn’t stop the controversial former socialite from making a splash on the show with her honesty, making comments that some might take as intrusive thoughts. 

“It just felt a bit upsetting to me,” Delvey said on Tori Spelling’s podcast MisSPELLING after her elimination. “It felt like a waste of time for me to do all this for them to just discard me so easily.” 

With Delvey gone from people’s screens, it has left her followers wondering where she might go from here. For others, who have little knowledge of her story, it left them wondering how she even got on the show in the first place, which is fair because her story is niche. 

Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, posed as a wealthy heiress to gain access to the highest class of New York social and art scene. She was able to swindle banks and friends to get high amounts of money. 

In 2019, Delvey was charged with grand larceny, theft of services, and first-degree attempt of grand larceny. 

Flash forward five years, after Delvey has served a four-year jail sentence, and probation and had her story turned into a Netflix biopic series, Delvey found herself on the cast of Dancing With the Stars. Delvey was met with mixed reactions from many, including Rowan students. 

To say the Rowan students who knew about the Delvey situation (and there weren’t many) were conflicted, would be an understatement. 

“Why is there a criminal on Dancing with the Stars,” Sophomore, Emily O’Donnell said. “It ruins the show.” 

Freshman Solomia Khometskyy agreed with O’Donnell’s sentiment.

“She needs to be voted off now,” Khometskyy said before Delvey’s elimination. 

Khometskyy would get her wish fairly quickly, but Delvey wasn’t necessarily sad about her elimination either. 

After her week one dance, Delvey was asked her reaction after receiving her scores, and her response was: “I feel happy that I don’t have to do this dance again.” 

The following week, when it was revealed that Delvey would not be returning, she was asked what she took away from this experience. Short and sweetly, Delvey said “nothing,” which of course sparked a bunch of even more controversy for her, and got people talking. 

And while some, including Delvey herself, were happy she was gone, there were others who thought Delvey’s presence brought something unique to the show. 

“I feel like her being on DWTS is very iconic,” Rowan student Makaylah Saint Germain said. “Even though she gets lots of backlash she still is doing what she has to do and continuing being herself and to me that’s iconic.” 

Delvey’s week two elimination indicated that the public was indeed not ready for the felon’s redemption arc. A lot of the outrage surrounding Delvey’s appearance on the show was because she was a criminal, but Delvey is not the first felon to compete for the Mirrorball Trophy. 

According to an article for Bravo TV, Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Guidice made an appearance on season 31 of the show, despite being charged with engaging in bank, mail, and wire fraud in 2013. Guidice’s poor dancing led her to an early elimination, but she still didn’t face nearly as much backlash as Delvey. 

Now there’s the question, what’s next for Delvey, where does she go from here? 

Currently, Delvey’s making a living selling highly-priced art prints, the cheapest one being $250. And while some are wondering if she is going to capitalize off her one-liners from the show by making merchandise of her sayings, she might not care enough to do so. Delvey has made a brand off her persona of being above things like that. 

It is her careless personality and compelling story that has people thinking this won’t be the last anyone sees of Delvey. There could be a reality TV producer from networks like E! or Lifetime coming up with a pitch for Delvey to star in her own reality show, or she can join the cast of another established show. 

“I could honestly see her on Celebrity Big Brother,” Freshman, Hannah Slimak said. “Not realizing the concept of the show, and pulling a Trisha Paytas and self-evicting.” 

Where things get complicated for Delvey’s future is the fact that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) still has her under house arrest during her pending deportation case. ICE had to give Delvey special permission to do Dancing With The Stars, but there is still a chance that Delvey could be sent back to Germany, where she has citizenship. 

Delvey is a complex individual, and Dancing With The Stars might not have been her style, but she always has the option to stay in the limelight and create an influencing career.

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