Tyra Banks doesn’t think “Dancing With the Stars” will have a live audience when it returns.
The Latin and ballroom contest is due to be back on screen for a 30th season later this year and although plans have not been finalized yet, the 47-year-old presenter thinks producers are likely to not be ready to introduce members of the public back to the studio because they are prioritizing “ultimate safety” while the coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing.
Discussing the possibility of a live audience, she told “Entertainment Tonight”: “We’ve been talking about it, back and forth. [But] probably not, if I really think about ultimate safety… maybe not yet.”
Banks is hopeful regular judge Carrie Ann Inaba will be involved with the show, despite her taking a leave of absence from her other role on “The Talk” earlier this year to “focus on [her] well-being” and admitted she’ll be “begging” the veteran dancer to be back on the panel.
Asked if Inaba will feature in season 30, she told “Entertainment Tonight”: “I hope so! She was there way before I was. So I’m gonna be begging her, ‘Please, Baby, please! You gonna be there, right?’ ”
Meanwhile, Banks has fulfilled her “ultimate dream” of almost 15 years with her new Smize Cream brand of ice cream.
She said: “So, I came up with the name many years ago. Smize [means] smile with your eyes, and I thought, ‘It sounds good with cream! Smize cream, passion for ice cream, there you go!
“I was like, ‘I wanna create an ice cream company!’ It harkens back to all the ice cream memories I have with me and momma eating ice cream after school in the car. But I wanted to make sure that there’s something special and surprising about it too.”
