DWTS'Ezra Sosa Says He Expected 'Nothing Less' from Anna Delvey After Her 'Iconic' 1-Word Response to Her Elimination

Mar. 15, 2025

From left: Ezra Sosa and Anna Delvey.Photo:ABC/Jose Alvarado, Jr.

ABC/Jose Alvarado, Jr.

On the Sept. 24 episode of the ABC dance competition, hostJulianne Houghasked the convicted con artist, 33, what she was taking away from her experience on the show after she was eliminated. Delvey bluntly replied with a one-word answer: “Nothing,” she said.

“I knew she was going to say something very iconic and something very ‘Anna Delvey’ with her exit,” he shared. “Of course she has to — it’s very typical. We would expect nothing less of her.”

From left: Anna Delvey and Ezra Sosa.Disney/Eric McCandless

Disney/Eric McCandless

However, the professional dancer revealed that Delvey apologized to him for endinghis first season as a proearly.

“She honestly kept on apologizing to me,” he shared. “She felt super sorry that my first season was cut short.”

He added that he wished the pair could have “stayed longer” in the competition, saying, “I honestly wanted to stay longer for my partner. I really wanted to give her a chance to really grow on camera and let America really see who she really is.”

Sosa also shared that he wants people to know “how incredibly sweet she is and how misunderstood she is.”“I really tried my best to see her for the person she is outside the persona,” he added.

From left: Ezra Sosa and Anna Delvey.Disney/Eric McCandless

As for the backlash that Delvey faced since being cast on the show, Sosa said, “Anna is a tough cookie, so seeing her in that state really shocked me and made me sad. In that moment, I just grabbed her hands and told her, ‘When you are in the competition with me, whatever you are going through, I am going through with you.’”

Ahead of the Sept. 24 episode ofDancing with the Stars, Sosaopened up about criticismin an emotionalTikTok.

“I just want to come on here and just talk about my first official show as a professional dancer onDancing with the Stars,” he shared. “What is life? I cannot believe this is happening to me right now.”

He called it the “best day ever” as he felt “so much love from literally every single person, including my partner.” However, he noted that Delvey did not feel the same support.

“As her partner, I wanted to give her the best experience she possibly could, and knowing that that’s not the case, it really did break my heart,” he added.

Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, gained notoriety for posing as a wealthy German heiress and used her social standing to defraud wealthy people, banks and hotels. She was arrested in 2017 and convicted of grand larceny in the first, second and third degree as well as theft of services in 2019.

Anna Delvey.Mike Coppola/AD/Getty Images for ABA

Mike Coppola/AD/Getty Images for ABA

“I know what she did was really controversial and was not right,” Sosa shared in his video. “I can never justify that for her and for anyone in her life, it’s really hard for me, because this person that I’m truly just falling in love with every single day in rehearsal isn’t the person that everyone sees in the media.”

“No one deserves the amount of hate that she’s getting right now,” he continued. “She deserves a second chance. She has stepped up to the plate, and I just cannot wait for y’all to see how much she has improved, so tune in this next Tuesday.Dancing with the Stars, and I’ll see you there.”

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Dancing with the Starsseason 33 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, with the episode available to stream the next day on Hulu.

source: people.com