‘We might be performing to nobody in the room’: Dancing With The Stars host Grant Denyer reveals Channel Ten are reconsidering a live studio audience amid the coronavirus pandemic
Sports and music events around the globe have been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
And now Dancing With The Stars host Grant Denyer has revealed Channel Ten are reconsidering having a live studio audience.
The 42-year-old told Friday’s Hit 105 Stav, Abby and Matt radio show that with a ‘chock-a-block’ crowd at the Melbourne studio every Sunday night, the network’s main concern is to keep ‘fans and crew safe’.
‘We might be performing to nobody in the room!’ Dancing With The Stars host Grant Denyer, 42, revealed on Friday’s Stav, Abby and Matt radio show, that Channel Ten are reconsidering a live studio audience amid the coronavirus pandemic
Asked by radio host Abby Coleman as to whether the show will continue filming to a live audience, Grant responded: ‘I think those discussions are going to be happening today.
‘We’re watching the fact that it’s happening at all major American TV shows [where they are taping episodes without a live studio audience].
‘Ours is one of the few live variety shows that happen in the country. We’ve got a chock-a-block audience, three storeys high on Sunday night,’ he continued.
Grant added that the network’s main concern is the safety of audience and crew members, and joked that cast may end up performing in an empty room.
Health first: Grant said that with a ‘chock-a-block’ crowd at the Melbourne studio every Sunday night, the network’s main concern is to keep ‘fans and crew safe’. Pictured: Chloe Lattanzi with her dance partner Gustavo Viglio
‘Obviously now that the Australian Grand Prix is off we are probably going to have to reconsider our position,’ he said.
‘Obviously you want to make sure that the fans of the show are safe and the crew’s safe and everybody is looked after, so we might be just performing to nobody in the room on Sunday night.’
Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness accompanied by fever, coughing, sore throat, shortness of breath and fatigue. It can produce pneumonia.
No live audience? ‘Obviously you want to make sure that the fans of the show are safe and the crew’s safe and everybody is looked after, so we might be just performing to nobody in the room on Sunday night,’ Grant said. Pictured on the ABC in June last year
The spread of the disease, which began in Wuhan, China, has seen over 130,000 cases worldwide and more than 4,000 fatalities.
The total number of Australians diagnosed with the virus is now 161, including three deaths.
It was announced on Friday that the Australian Grand Prix and Download Festival have been cancelled amid the crisis, while the Coachella music festival has been postponed to October.
American television shows including The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Wendy Williams Show have also decided to tape episodes without a live studio audience.
Statistics: As of March 13, the total number of Australians diagnosed with the virus is now 161, including three deaths