Dancing With the Stars kicked off season 33 with a hour and a half-long season premiere Tuesday night.
The star of the most recent season of The Bachelorette, Jenn Tran, was among the new crop of contestants to take the stage, dancing the cha cha to “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus with partner Sasha Farber. Tran, who was a cast member on fellow DWTS contestant Joey Graziadei‘s season of The Bachelor before leading the most recent season of The Bachelorette, had emotionally told audiences earlier this month during the After The Final Rose finale that she and her final pick, Devin Strader, had broken up between filming and the live-to-air special.
Then, on the same day that DWTS premiered, it was revealed that Strader had been arrested and had a restraining order filed against him by an ex-girlfriend before he was on the reality dating show. The restraining order, which had been sealed during The Bachelorette vetting process, as The Hollywood Reporter reported, contained troubling details and raised questions around the ABC/Warner Horizon-produced series.
When hitting the red carpet to talk to press later that day, during the first episode taping for DWTS, Tran did not directly address the reports, but she told The Hollywood Reporter that the dancing competition series was “the start of a new journey” for her and that was she “pouring energy back” into herself.
“[I’m] really just healing and focusing on me,” she said. “It’s been truly amazing.”
When asked if The Bachelor franchise helped her with preparing for DWTS, the 26-year-old laughed and said they were “two very different shows” but that her previous reality show experience did help her. “With being on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, I just had to be myself and give it everything I can and do it with an open heart, and I’m doing the same thing here,” she said.
Graziadei, leading man of season 28 of The Bachelor, was the first contestant to perform during Tuesday night’s premiere. The 29-year-old reality star performed a cha cha to Tyler Hubbard’s “Dancin’ in the Country” with partner Jenna Johnson.
The Bachelor alum said he joined the show to step outside of his comfort zone, but he has high hopes for the future. “No Bachelor guy has ever made the finale before, so that’s the first goal,” he told THR. “Anything that comes after that, we’ll make some other ones hopefully.”
Graziadei also said he’s been able to find some similarities between his time on The Bachelor and on DWTS. “That feeling you have before a live show on The Bachelor, I had that same feeling for tonight,” he said. “It’s different because I have to perform here. On The Bachelor, I’m just myself, and I just talk through how I’m feeling.”
One contestant’s anticipated accessory, meanwhile, became a big talking point on social media. Anna Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, sported a bedazzled ankle monitor during her performance. Leading up to the show, Delvey had revealed she would be sporting the bracelet.
Delvey is recognized as the convicted fraudster and fake German heiress who conned various elites in Manhattan into giving her hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, goods and services. Her story was dramatized for Netflix’s Inventing Anna from Shonda Rhimes, which starred Julia Garner as Delvey.
Delvey said she was granted permission from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be a part of DWTS. Earlier this month, The View hosts expressed their disappointment in DWTS‘ decision to cast Delvey. “Like so many others, Anna has made mistakes and, most importantly, she has made amends by serving both time in prison and repaying all her debts in full,” Delvey’s attorney said after The View addressed their original comments during the Sept. 15 broadcast.
While DWTS didn’t cover Delvey’s past at length, judge Carrie Ann Inaba didn’t stray away from the topic when giving comments to Delvey and partner, Ezra Sosa, following their performance.
“I just want to say something,” Inaba said. “When you came out on the dance floor, there was a shift in energy in this room. I would just like to say, let’s all just give this a chance, because I can imagine that this is scary for you. I’m not pro or against anything that you’ve done, but this is about your dancing here. Let’s all give her that space here.”
After the show, Delvey told THR that she wants to show viewers a new side of herself. “Hopefully, people will give me [a] chance to move on with my life because I repaid my restitution, and I served my time,” she said. She also showed off her bedazzled ankle monitor.
Dancing with the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Lesley Corral and Dominoe Ibarra contributed to this story.
