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 But there will be all the usual
tangos and waltzes, and no masks on the dancers
when television's "Dancing with the Stars"
returns next week with Derek Hough as a new
judge.
"If you want to know you are in the middle of a
pandemic there are a million places you can go.
What we want to do is give you a respite from
that and just entertain you for two hours," Rob
Mills, the executive overseeing the show at ABC
television, told Reuters.
U.S. TV and movie production is tentatively
returning under complex safety guidelines after
a five-month shutdown during the coronavirus
pandemic.
Making the ballroom dance show in Los Angeles
with multiple contestants, music, and close
partner work proved an especially daunting task
but producers said they never contemplated
ditching the new season.
"The show will be much more about the couple and
the dance again. It takes the show back to the
core of what it is really about," said executive
producer Andrew Llinares.
"Dancing with the Stars," made by the BBC
Studios production arm in Los Angeles, returns
for Season 29 on ABC on Sept. 14. The new set
eliminates the audience, the extra long table
seats judges 8 ft (2.4 meters) apart, and remote
cameras will capture rehearsals.
The 15 dancers and 15 celebrities will be tested
for COVID five times a week. Crew and backstage
staff will wear masks and get regular tests too.
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 "If a celebrity does test
positive, sadly it probably means they are out
of the competition," Llinares said.
Travel restrictions will keep British judge Len
Goodman in the U.K., although producers say they
are figuring out how to include him in the show
somehow.
Judge Bruno Tonioli will be back but will not
crisscross the Atlantic to also appear in the
BBC version "Strictly Ballroom." Carrie Anne
Inaba will be joined on the judging panel by
Hough, a six times winner as a professional
dancer.
The celebrity cast includes Backstreet Boys
singer AJ McLean, rapper Nelly and "Tiger King"
reality star Carole Baskin.
The professionals who are married will live
apart from each other, the celebrities are being
asked to quarantine, and there will be no band
on stage.
"It is very, very intense to make sure people
are safe," Tyra Banks, the show's new host, told
Reuters.
(Additional reporting by Rollo Ross; Editing by
David Gregorio)
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