Channel 10 brings back Dancing With The Stars two years after being axed by Seven
TWO years after the Seven Network axed the celebrity dancing program, Network 10 is bringing it back to our screens, with Julia Morris and Chris Brown tipped to be the new hosts.
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TV’s incumbent funny girl Julia Morris and her on-air partner Chris Brown are tipped to host Network Ten’s revival of Dancing With The Stars when cameras start rolling on the program later this year.
The network recently inked a deal with UK production company BBC to resurrect the show, considered the world’s leading dance entertainment brand, and broadcast previously on the Seven Network for 15 seasons before the axe fell in 2016.
Network Ten chief content officer Beverley McGarvey was unavailable for comment yesterday but recently said the program had a “strong format”.
Ten’s rebooted Dancing With The Stars will air in 2019 and is expected to go into Ten’s schedule after I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! wraps in the first half of the year, television sources said.
Morris and Brown, better known to young viewers as the Bondi Vet, also host I’m A Celebrity, an arrangement network executives expect will boost, through saturated cross-promotion, its launch of Dancing With The Stars.
The acquisition of the program is part of a “programming splurge” by Ten and its American owner CBS following the loss of the cricket broadcast rights to the Seven Network earlier this year which freed up millions in funding.
The network will continue to target its traditional under-35 market with Dancing With The Stars.
“The plan is to fill the program with the young Bachelors and Bachelorettes that Ten has already cultivated on those programs. There aren’t a lot of opportunities in mainstream media for those younger men and women and Ten has already invested in them, so this way they can capitalise on their investment,” an industry insider said.
“Ten will also features its own stars, much as Seven did when it had the show.”
A lack of celebrity talent was seen to have contributed to falling ratings on Seven during the program’s last three seasons.
During its heyday, Dancing With The Stars attracted bumper million-plus audiences on Seven, admittedly older viewers, consistently winning its timeslot.
Expensive to produce, production costs run to just under a million dollars an episode. Ten hopes to reduce costs by casting its young reality stars. Appearance fees for celebrities signing up on Seven’s incarnation started at $5000 and ran to $15,000 an episode.
Dancing With The Stars will also feature judges and stage star Todd McKenney, who appeared in all 15 seasons on Seven, is favoured by Ten for a plum role.