Millionaire Hot Seat has suspended filming following a COVID-19 outbreak on its neighbouring set of The Masked Singer.
Production on the singing competition show shut down on Saturday after seven crew members tested positive to the virus.
The guessing panel on Masked Singer – made up of Dannii Minogue, Jackie O, Urzila Carlson, and Dave Hughes – the remaining singers and the production team are now self-isolating.
Three episodes of Millionaire Hot Seat were supposed to film this week, but shooting has now been suspended until after stage four restrictions are set to lift on September 13.
Both of the shows film at separate studios at the Docklands in Melbourne, however they do share the same facilities.
“They’ve shut the place down,” Hot Seat host Eddie McGuire said on his Triple M breakfast show.
“[Masked Singer is] not even in the studio we’re in, it’s in the next studio, but there is a bit of spill over so the Victorian government, in their wisdom – and I agree with them – have shut the whole place down,” he said.
Speaking to The Project on Sunday night, Masked Singer host Osher Günsberg said the crew were “literally two hours away” from recording the grand finale when everything shut down.
“The pyrotechnics were loaded, everybody was in costume, we [were] ready to go,” he said.
Günsberg also praised the first crew member who tested positive to the virus on set for speaking up, saying that they should be seen as an example of what you should do if you feel unwell.
“This person was so brave – so brave – this young person put their hand up and said, ‘Hang on, guys, I’m not feeling great, I should probably let you know this’.”
Both studios are now undergoing a deep clean.
The Masked Singer will continue to air its recorded episodes as scheduled.
WE’RE ON! The Masked Singer still has plenty of episodes ready to go. Who will be revealed tonight? 7.30 on 10. #MaskedSingerAU pic.twitter.com/DLIFfAIGz0
— The Masked Singer Australia (@maskedsinger_au) August 23, 2020
