Earlier this year Seven announced that one of its most popular programs, Dancing With The Stars would return to its spiritual home on Seven, with a new format and an all-stars twist. The special event series began its two-week run on April 11 and premiered to 744,000 viewers.
Mediaweek spoke with Seven’s director of production Andrew Backwell about the return of one of the networks most famous brands, the changes to the format, and the power of nostalgia.
“It obviously started on Seven 17 years ago. I was head of programming at Channel Nine at that time, and I remember Seven announcing they were doing a new dancing show and my first reaction was “ooh, I can’t see that working”, then the ratings came in and it was enormous. For 15 seasons the ratings just pumped away, it did a brilliant job,” explained Backwell.
The show returns in a different format to its predecessor, now it is a pre-recorded two-week television event that sees the return of the show’s finest, including five former champions and four wildcard entrants.
The celebrities are divided into two groups, taking to the stage on alternate nights across the season. The leaderboard will be determined by a combination of judges’ scores and scores from the studio audience, with eliminations in every episode.
Ultimately six couples will make it through to the Dancing With The Stars: All Stars grand finale, where they will face off for the coveted mirror ball trophy and prize money for their nominated charity.
Backwell described the decision to bring back Dancing with the Stars as a no-brainer once they adjusted the way they made the show, with the whole series taking two and a half weeks to record.
“We had our schedule planned and the tennis moved two weeks later due to Covid. We looked around and thought ‘what big formats are out there that are available that we can do over a two-week period?’, and we thought that Dancing with The Stars is one of the top 10 formats in the world, produced in over 57 territories, but it’s only ever been done live once a week. Nobody has ever pre-recorded it and done it as a two-week big event.
“It made it a very cost-effective model because we could pre-record a number of episodes in a small gap. And you got a better product because you’ve got post-production.
“By bringing back all-stars, you get a better standard of dancing because you’ve got stars that have done it before. They know what it entails, they’ve got some experience now, so the standard of dancing for the series is the highest it’s ever been in this market because they’ve done it before and can dance.”
Dancing With The Stars All-Stars cast
How did Covid impact production?
Like most productions in the world Dancing with the Stars: All Stars was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, but Backwell said that while production was affected, the quality of the product remained the same.
“Warner Brothers, because they’re an international company, had a very strict Covid policy. There was a lot of protocols in place, in fact, I wasn’t even allowed on set unless I had a negative test within seven days.
“I had to get tested just to go on set to supervise and watch the program. We had an audience there which was completely kept separate from any of the cast and the crew, so there were a lot of protocols in place.
“In the end, I don’t believe it impacted the quality of the show, I thought the show was great to have an audience there. The celebs and everyone behind the scenes wore masks, but on camera, it didn’t look like a Covid show.
“We’ve seen a number of these entertainment shows shot during Covid, and they kind of don’t look as glossy as they should, they have no audience and there are people wearing masks. We managed to do the show, Warner Brothers and BBC did a brilliant job, shooting in Covid but it doesn’t look like a Covid impacted show at all.”
How did the stars align?
Along with the former contestants returning to the dance floor are original hosts Daryl Somers and Sonia Kruger, plus the original judges Helen Richey, Todd McKenney, Paul Mercurio and Mark Wilson. Backwell said that Seven wanted to plug into the nostalgia of the show that has been created over the last 17 years.
“The all-stars format for us was a no-brainer because what we wanted to do was try and hook into the heritage. It was a number one rating show for many, many years. So, what we want to do is try and tap into some of that nostalgia.
“To get Bec Hewitt back to TV was a big win for us because she hasn’t done anything for so many years. Someone like Ada Nicodemou is fantastic, and Manu Feidel, Tom Williams. These are people that made a big noise at the time when they won the series and to have the best of the best compete seemed like a really good idea.
“And then to tap back into nostalgia, that’s why we got the original judges back who were fantastic in the early days, and I think it added a ‘where are they now?’ element. The proof is in the pudding, they had a relationship, they gelled, and I think they were very, very strong.”
How Seven chose the Wild Cards
The show is not just all all-stars, with four wild cards also being chosen for the show. Backwell said the wild cards added to the dynamic of Dancing With The Stars.
“I think Schapelle Corby, was controversial, there were a lot of people that thought we shouldn’t have cast her. I personally think she adds a lot to the show, and I think it’s really good that Australians got to see a different side of Schapelle. An absolutely lovely person, very genuine person, she put her heart into it and gave it a good go which I thought was great for people to see another side of her.
“Then we have Renee Bargh, obviously had previously hosted The Voice here, a very good dancer, does very well in the series.
“Matty J tapped into that Bachelor audience, they loved him. Then Jessica Gomes who has been a supermodel, looks fantastic on the dance floor.”