Why Cheryl Burke Wishes Anna Delvey Was Paired With a Different Pro

Cheryl Burke thinks Dancing With the Stars season 33 contestant Anna Delvey could have benefitted from a different partner.

“I really wish that she was paired with Val [Chmerkovskiy], because I think Val would’ve cracked her open a little bit as far as finding some sort of emotion, whatever emotion she needed to express,” Burke, 40, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting her “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” iHeartRadio podcast. (Delvey is partnered with Ezra Sosa, who joined the show as a pro this season.)

Burke felt that there’s a “disconnect” where Delvey, 33, may feel like “she’s being attacked” based on the reaction to her casting.

“Psychologically you’re like, ‘OK, protect, protect, protect, protect. Don’t let anybody in,’” Burke added. “I get it, but I just wonder if it’s almost like too soon, right? You can’t avoid the comments. You can’t avoid hearing what Whoopi Goldberg says about her. You can’t avoid it.”

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Delvey has been a controversial casting choice as she’s most known for deceiving and defrauding large financial banks, hotels and people. Delvey was arrested in 2018 and remained in prison through her May 2019 sentencing. She served two years after being convicted on charges of grand larceny, second-degree larceny and theft of services. She was released from prison in October 2022 after paying $10,000 bail and placed on house arrest.

Burke, who was a pro on the series for 17 years, noted that there is one thing that Delvey can do during her stint on the ABC reality series to change the narrative about her.

“If she really wants to change people’s minds and perception about her and perspective, whatever, is to really open up and showcase anger if it’s anger. Sadness, if it’s sadness,” Burke noted. “I think it’s the one expression on her face almost looks a little bit like she’s entitled and looks like she doesn’t want to be here. And I know that that’s not the case because I saw it last night.”

In Burke’s perspective, Delvey “worked hard to be able to do that regardless of what anyone thinks” and the dancer thinks she “has potential.”

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“What she needs to understand is [it’s] not just a dance competition at all,” Burke added. “Actually, I would say it’s more of a ‘Who are you as a person?’ competition. How vulnerable will you be? That comes first. That is 75 percent of the competition. It’s a journey. It’s like, ‘Are you letting people in?’”

Burke clarified that she doesn’t not like Delvey, but she can’t “relate to her.” She added, “I just need to get in there a little bit. That’s all.”

“If you can’t do the wall coming down, at least it’s not about paying people back either. It’s just about just, ‘Sorry. I am so sorry,’” Burke said of Delvey taking accountability. “Whatever it is, right? I haven’t heard that yet.”

During the premiere episode of DWTS on Tuesday, September 17, Delvey and Sosa laced up their dancing shoes — and bedazzled her ankle monitor — and danced to a Cha-Cha to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.” They scored an 18 out of 30.

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While critiquing their debut dance, judge Carrie Ann Inaba gave a public message of support to Delvey.

“I would just like to say, let’s all give this a chance because I can imagine that this was scary for you,” Inaba said on Tuesday. “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 told Us in response that she wasn’t aware of the crowd’s reaction. “It’s hard to say because we just moved fresh off the stage,” Delvey said. “I’m not sure what the public’s reaction was yet, so it’s hard to say.”)

As the season progresses, Burke will be dishing on all things DWTS related on her podcast, “Sex Lies and Spray Tans.”

“I just feel like I am still, in a way, grieving but not nearly as heavy as it was a year ago. I also feel like it’s been helpful to hear my guest stories and what they’ve been through because we don’t have that time to talk,” Burke said. “And if we do get there, we always get pulled in a different direction. So there’s a lot of similarities, but there’s also beautiful memories and it’s everything.”

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 Christina Garibaldi