Dancing with the Stars has kicked off its season in a rather stumbling fashion, with a new host and some Covid-19 prevention protocols. The set echoed with the roars and cheers of the crowd—even though there wasn’t any!

Tyra Banks debuted as the show host since the producers decided to replace Tim Bergeron, a longtime staple for the show. Derek Hough is also on-board as Len Goodman’s judge, who joined the show remotely for a short while, with the excuse that Goodman couldn’t come to the US from London because of pandemic boundaries.

The set is revamped with a new look; the judges are maintaining social distancing, and the competitors are enjoying the show from an elevated area above. But the most prominent part was not something physical, it’s actually a fake sound of crowd noise (making up for the absence of a sound studio audience).

They made it so loud that it drowns Banks’ voice, albeit she was shouting her lungs out.

Meanwhile, the main feature among the contenders was obviously Carole Baskin, a star of notorious and famous Netflix’s series “Tiger King”. As expected, she danced awfully to Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”, that earned the lowest possible score of the night from the judges. Skai Jackson, Disney Channel star and Justina Machado, One day at a Time’s star, ended up drawing for first. 

“Dancing” particularly kicks off a fall TV season, although it doesn’t really start until next week. During the pandemic, the broadcast networks noted a surge in unscripted shows, which initiated their production sooner than usual sitcoms and dramas.

The methods used in such reality shows have also been used by different sports networks, which have also planned to replace crowds with sound and visual effects.

Networks are relying on shows like Fox’s The Masked Singer and “Dancing” in an altered fashion to keep the entertainment going until scripted shows like “This is Us” and “Grey’s Anatomy” make their return in a few months.