There’s a shake up coming to the Ellen DeGeneres show

Ellen DeGeneres is making some changes with her audience on The Ellen DeGeneres show this week.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show has had a virtual audience since the beginning of her latest season, but that’s set to change this week.

Now, Ellen will have 40 audience members live, while another 70 audience members will be held virtually, according to Variety.

The show is still going to adhere to health and safety protocols with this change, keeping the audience safe from coronavirus.

Since COVID, Ellen has had a virtual audience

RELATED: Ryan Phillippe shades Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen will also have a live audiences for her Halloween special on October 30, where she will most likely dress up in costume – as she has done every other year.

Ellen reintroducing a live audience comes after the show saw a decline of ratings, which returned for its 18th season last month, following a huge scandal surrounding Ellen and her workplace ethics.

The ratings for Ellen’s premiere week dropped 38 per cent compared to last year, according to Neilsen, despite everyone tuning in to watch her highly anticipated apology that fell flat.

With such a huge decline of viewership, it suggests that all of the claims that came from former staffers about bullying and harassment from the 62-year-old host have affected fans.

Neilsen Media Research, which is a firm that measures audience size, reported that Ellen’s September 21 season 18 premiere episode averaged a 1.2 Live+Same Day household ratings – which was a 29 per cent drop from her 2019 premiere.

Ellen has been hosting some guests virtually

RELATED: Ellen’s makeover: ‘She looks like Portia’

The show has an average of 1.7 million viewers for this season alone – a 38% drop from last season.

During the premiere episode, Ellen addressed the scandal she had been embroiled in.

“As you may have heard, this summer there were allegations of a toxic work environment at our show and then there was an investigation. I learned that things happened here that never should have happened,” Ellen told viewers in a monologue.

Ellen’s apology was the highest-rated premiere since 2016

RELATED: Gogglebox households trash Ellen

“I take that very seriously, and I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected,” she said. “I know that I’m in a position of privilege and power, and I realize that with that comes responsibility, and I take responsibility for what happens at my show.”

She added: “Being known as the ‘be-kind lady’ is a tricky position to be in. The truth is I am that person you see on TV. I am also a lot of other things. Sometimes I get sad, I get mad, I get anxious, I get frustrated, I get impatient. And I am working on all of that.”

While the premiere episode saw a record number of people tune in, being the highest-rated premiere since 2016, it was short-lived with viewers dropping off after that episode.