Anna Delvey and Dancing With the Stars partner Ezra Sosa had a special connection before they even stepped foot in the ballroom.
Delvey, 33, has only seen season 30 of the reality dance competition, which happened to be the version that Sosa’s BFF JoJo Siwa competed on with pro Jenna Johnson. (After Siwa, 21, and Johnson, 30, finished as runners-up, the Dance Moms star enlisted Sosa, 23, for a series of dance lessons.)
“I mean, I didn’t tell [JoJo that I’d be a pro this year]. And when I did tell her, she didn’t believe me, like, such a good friend, wow,” Sosa joked exclusively to Us Weekly on Wednesday, September 4. “But ever since then, she’s been texting me [about] everything. Like, her mom has a rhinestone company [and] is giving me so many rhinestones so I can rhinestone [Anna’s ankle] monitor. Like, she’s very much a part of the team.”
He continued, “[It] is actually super ironic because the only time [Anna] has seen Dancing with the Stars was in jail.”
Delvey (born Anna Sorokin) was convicted in May 2019 on one count of attempted grand larceny, three counts of grand larceny and four counts of theft and was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison. Delvey was released on parole in February 2021, serving out the remainder of her term on house arrest in New York City.
DWTS films its season in Los Angeles and Delvey was granted permission to relocate to the City of Angels so long as she wears an ankle monitor. While Delvey doesn’t know when she can take off the bracelet, she told Us what it’s been like to have it on in rehearsals.
“I mean, it’s fine. It’s just the same as, like, dancing without it, I think,” Delvey said. “It’s pretty light. It’s not that bad.”
Sosa, meanwhile, joked that Delvey’s left leg will get “super buffed” if they end up performing the jive with its fast-based kicks and flicks.
“Good!” Delvey replied. “Because I’m wearing it on my right cuff [since] my right cuff is skinnier than the left.”
Delvey and Sosa have been “getting along really well” throughout their early rehearsals.
“My first impression of Anna [was] she was super sweet,” Sosa gushed. “Honestly, [she] walked past me, I said hi and she didn’t respond. And then she came back and I said hi again. And then I was like, ‘OK, yes, we’re in.’ But she’s super sweet. She has a really dry sense of humor, which is, like, my personal favorite.”
Sosa is also really excited about helping Delvey “show America who she really is” outside of the headlines and Netflix’s Inventing Anna. (Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland production company produced a miniseries, starring Julia Garner, about Delvey.)
“When I found out she was my partner, first things first, I almost fell off the treadmill,” Sosa joked, noting he doesn’t plan to watch Inventing Anna. “When the casting director told me, I was so excited, like, being so genuine.”
Dancing With the Stars season 33 premieres on ABC Tuesday, September 17, at 8 p.m. ET and concurrently on Disney+. Episodes will also be available the next day on Hulu.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
