By Kate Rooney
In an ironic twist of events, the TV show based around wearing masks has been postponed due to an outbreak of coronavirus among the crew this week.
Production on season 2 of Network 10’s The Masked Singer was halted after several crew members tested positive for coronavirus.
The news was revealed on Saturday night when an announcement was posted to The Masked Singer’s social media pages detailing that the entire production team was in self-isolation and being closely monitored.
After seven people from the crew originally tested positive for Covid-19, production was ceased just hours before they were set to record the grand final episode of the show. Two days after this announcement, TV Tonight confirmed that this number has grown to 16 positive cases following 289 tests that were undertaken.
The entire production team including host Osher Günsberg, panellists Danni Minogue, Dave Hughes, Jackie O and Urzila Carlson are all in self-isolation.
Osher told the Sunday Project that one of the dancers mentioned that they weren’t feeling well which put a stop to the show, putting everyone’s health as a top priority.
The Herald Sun reported that after the first dancer tested positive, tracing identified an additional six cases of coronavirus within the crew.
In their statement, Network 10 says that they will be working closely with the Victorian Government and Department of Health and Human Services to manage the spread of the virus and to ensure the safety, mental and physical health of their crew.
The show was among those to be granted an exemption to continue filming under Melbourne’s lockdown restrictions. There were a few news and media outlets that were considered essential services and granted this exemption to film in Melbourne’s Docklands with a Covid-safe plan.
Osher said that filming will resume whenever they are given the all-clear, making sure to adhere to isolation rules when an outbreak cluster occurs. He stated that the set requires a deep clean and all the cast and crew are awaiting results for Covid tests.
Despite the interruption to filming, the season is set to go to air as planned, with the episodes being pre-filmed.
You can catch The Masked Singer on Channel 10 from Monday night at 7:30.