Ezra Sosa Jokes He Doesn’t Want a Convicted Felon as Next ‘DWTS’ Partner After Anna Delvey (Exclusive)

Dancing With the Stars pro Ezra Sosa had fun with former partner Anna Delvey, but he’s ready to dance with someone new.

“I’ll tell you who’s not on my mind, and it’s anyone with a convicted felony,” Sosa, 24, told Us Weekly exclusively at Hulu’s inaugural Get Real House on Tuesday, April 22, in Beverly Hills. “We’re just gonna stray away from that. If my person next season is still a convicted felon, I think I have a niche.”

Sosa was paired with Delvey, 34, during DWTS season 33 — his first as a pro — which aired late last year. The duo were one of the first eliminated, and Delvey admitted to taking “nothing” away from the experience. Sosa later got a tattoo of the word. (Delvey served two years in prison after being convicted on charges of grand larceny in 2019. She was released from prison in 2022 and was put on house arrest until this past February.)

 

Fellow pro Rylee Arnold, on the other hand, is looking for a partner who just “wants to work hard” throughout the competition. Arnold, 19, couldn’t help but gush over her season 33 partner, Olympian Stephen Nedoroscik.

“He was such an amazing partner,” she told Us. “If you have that, you have literally the best time, and you can create such an amazing dancer. Literally, anyone that’s willing and just excited to be there.”

The professional dancers — who both appeared on the recent DWTS tour — are now gearing up for the show’s next season. Sosa told Us why he thinks there’s continued excitement surrounding the long-running competition show.

“We just brought back that good feeling of Dancing With the Stars again,” Sosa noted, sharing that OG showrunner Conrad Green is back on board. “Another thing that really helped the season was social media. You got a really good freaking season, and then we got everyone posting a bunch of TikToks just to spread awareness about it.”

Former Bachelor Joey Graziadei was crowned as the DWTS season 33 winner in November 2024 alongside partner Jenna Johnson. Now, the dancers are gearing up for a whole new crop of stars. While confirming on Tuesday that the 34th season will kick off in the fall, ABC announced Robert Irwin as the first celebrity competitor.

The 21-year-old wildlife conservationist is the son of the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, who died in September 2006 at age 44 after he was fatally stung by a stingray. Robert is the second member of his family to appear on DWTS. His older sister, Bindi Irwin, took home the mirrorball trophy during season 21, which aired in 2015.