Dancing With The Stars boss fears RTÉ could ‘pull the plug’ on hit show – just weeks before it’s return

Dancing With The Stars boss Larry Bass has revealed that he fears RTÉ could potentially pull the plug on the hit dance show – weeks before it’s return.

Larry Bass of ShinAwil productions said he has a contract with the broadcaster to make the seventh season of the dancing competition, which returns to screens in January.

This comes after RTÉ confirmed the professional dancers set to take part in the next series.

According to The Irish Sun, Mr. Bass has now come forward and revealed that he fears the show could be axed before its set to return to screens across the nation.

He told the publication: “I have every fear that this could happen again at any time because of RTÉ’s financial sustainability, which is just not solid at the moment.”

“We are living with that fear every single day.”

Mr. Bass continued: “We all hear and read reports of what funding may be going into RTÉ, and read reports of what they are going to be spending on redundancies, and won’t be spending on production.”

“But only the Government and RTÉ know the details.”

Mr. Bass took a hit in 2020 when the final of the show was pushed forward a week due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An industry source told the publication that bosses “easily” lost “€150,000 to €250,000.”

They continued: “Even though the broadcast never happened, ShinAwil would still have had to pay the freelancers involved, and the hire of all the equipment, the outside broadcast unit they booked.”

“It’s a considerable hit for an independent.”

Larry continued to tell The Irish Sun: “We were never paid for the show, even though that show was contracted.”

“I have every fear that this could happen again at any time because of RTÉ’s financial sustainability.”

When asked if RTÉ should be making an expensive show like DWTS now, Larry said: “I can’t answer for RTÉ, but they have to make decisions about fulfilling a schedule that people will watch.

“DWTS has always attracted a huge audience — and we wouldn’t be back for a seventh season if we didn’t deliver.”