Anna Delvey’s Dancing With the Stars debut had the entire ballroom talking, including judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who sensed a “shift in the energy” among the crowd.
Delvey, 33, and partner Ezra Sosa however, didn’t feel a palpable change.
“When we go out there and we’re dancing, it’s just us two on the floor, and we honestly don’t,” Sosa, 23, exclusively told Us Weekly after the Tuesday, September 17, live premiere. “Even when we finished the dance, we’re not really thinking about applause or anything.”
Delvey and Sosa danced a cha-cha to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” — bedazzled ankle monitor and all — on Tuesday, scoring an 18 out of 30. Afterward, Inaba, 56, offered her support.
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“I would just like to say, let’s all give this a chance because I can imagine that this was scary for you,” Inaba during her on-air critique. “And I’m not pro or for anything that you’ve done, but this is about your dancing here. Let’s all give her that space, please.”
Delvey, who was previously convicted of grand larceny, was not aware of the crowd’s reaction to the performance.
“It’s hard to say because we just moved fresh off the stage,” Delvey told Us. “I’m not sure what the public’s reaction was yet, so it’s hard to say.”
Overall, Delvey found the live premiere to be a “great experience.”
“I [am] glad the night is over,” she quipped on Tuesday. “I think I could have done a little bit better with my dance. I think I performed better during rehearsals, but it was a great experience. I’ve never performed in front of a live audience and, hopefully, I will get better moving forward.”
Sosa’s best friend, and former DWTS competitor, JoJo Siwa was spotted in the crowd to cheer on the couple.
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“It was such a serendipity because Ezra is best friends with JoJo and JoJo’s season is the only season that I happened to watch because I was in jail,” Delvey told Us. “I don’t watch that much TV.”
Siwa, 21, even gave the couple some advice before they hit the dance floor.
“She literally pulled me aside, and she’s like, ‘Can I speak to him for a minute?’ And she was honestly really sweet,” Sosa gushed. “My journey with JoJo is more about her helping me come out with my sexuality and everything. So she just showed me a picture when I wasn’t out, and she’s like, ‘Make sure you know who you’re dancing for. You’re dancing for him.’ And I just started crying, and it was just such a beautiful moment.”
Ahead of Sosa and Delvey’s ballroom debut, they bonded during rehearsals.
“I think Ezra has an appreciation for my sense of humor,” Delvey told Us. “Not everybody would, so that was a big plus because I wouldn’t want to censor myself in front of my dancing partner.”
According to Sosa, he found Delvey’s “dry sense of humor” to be “very amusing” amongst the glitzy DWTS world.
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“She does make me laugh so hard,” Sosa quipped to Us, adding that he even wanted to wear matching ankle monitors for their Tuesday performance. “I think they’re waiting a little bit later in the season for that.”
Delvey had been granted an exemption by ICE to relocate from New York to California for DWTS so long as she wore an ankle monitor. (Delvey’s prison stint caused her to overstay her preexisting visa.)
While Delvey previously told Us that she wasn’t worried about dancing with the ankle monitor, it led to a blister during her first dance rehearsal.
“But, it stopped,” she said. “It’s weird how it behaves, but now they put a little bit of padding on it. Generally, it’s pretty light.”
Dancing With the Stars airs simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Episodes are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ the next day.
With reporting by Carly Konsker
