‘Dancing With The Stars’ Tightens Covid-19 Protocols For Season 30
ABC Reading Time: 2 minutes
Following the professional dancer cast announcement and many celebrity spoilers, people have begun wondering how ABC will handle Dancing With The Stars during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This show will be returning to ABC on September 20 for its 30th season. Reportedly, the network has implemented more strict guidelines for the cast this year.
Long-time DWTS professional dancer, Sharna Burgess, shared that the show will have a live audience again for the upcoming season. This will be their first live audience since their 2019 season. This is both exciting, and nerve racking with the Delta variant hitting the United States in full force.
Dancing With The Stars is not the first competition show to implement a live audience for their current season. America’s Got Talent and The Masked Singer both feature live audiences in their current seasons.
DWTS is doing their part to ensure that contestants will be taking safety precautions seriously for this season.
Burgess recently did a question and answer on her Instagram stories, as well as in her Tik Tok video. Within her stories, she shared that Covid-19 precautions for the upcoming season are even more strict than last year.
Last season, Skai Jackson told Entertainment Weekly that participants had to be tested daily, would practice in a heavily sanitized room, and were discouraged from any sort of interaction with anyone other than their partner. Jackson also mentioned in other interviews that her family was not allowed to be a part of her DWTS run. Since there was no audience last season, her family could not be there to support her.
Although taking family support out of the picture takes a lot out of the competition for celebrities, it seems like the upcoming season will remain the same. Burgess recently shared that everyone will remain in pods for this upcoming season.
Celebrities will only be able to see dance partners in the studio, and married couples will continue to live separately during the competition. This ruling will effect Burgess first hand if Brian Austin Green, her boyfriend and rumored DWTS contestant, is a part of the upcoming season. Although the two have denied engagement or marriage rumors, they still won’t be able to see much of each other during the season. Unless, of course, they are partners for season. On top of these comments, Burgess also included that there is so much more in relation to safety protocols.
It should be interesting to see what will make audience members eligible to attend the show. If DWTS takes a similar approach to America’s Got Talent, audience members will have to have full vaccination status in order to participate.
