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The future of reality TV looks bleak at the moment.
Currently, reunion episodes of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" and "Vanderpump Rules" are being filmed virtually and production on Season 16 of "The Bachelorette" is being suspended indefinitely as the coronavirus pandemic continues to keep business closed and people isolated.
So, what does the future of reality TV filming look like considering the current public health crisis?
Monica Holowacz, director of community relations at Broadway Stages for over 10 years, believes that "we’re going to see a major overhaul in how certain things are done."
"Right now, we’re dealing with such an unknown, and there’s no way to predict when another pandemic will hit, but I do think that many changes we see will be more short-term, until our unknowns become more clear," she told Fox News.
Holowacz feels strongly that sets in the future will require "frequent temperature and well[ness] checks for all contestants to make sure everyone is healthy."
With dating shows in particular, the plot hinges "around the physical interaction between contestants, and it’s hard to eliminate that aspect of these shows. But I do think that before any of that intimacy can occur, there will have to be 100 percent certainty that everyone is healthy," she said.
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Another aspect of reality TV filming that will have to change is its dependence on abroad locations.
'The Bachelor' Season 24 -- The contestants and crew flew to Alice Springs, Australia to film the finale. (ABC/John Fleenor)
"Showrunners for 'The Bachelorette' have already said that they will most likely plan to film in one large location, and then have the cast and crew quarantine throughout the entire filming process," Holowacz explained. "For that, and shows like 'Love Island,' which has contestants staying in the same villa the entire time, we could see every contestant being forced to self-isolate for two weeks before filming even begins."
One show that could succeed during the pandemic could be Netflix’s "Love Is Blind," where there is no physical interaction until halfway through the season.
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"It’s self-quarantining and social distancing in the dating TV world, already. The concept exists, it was a mega-hit for Netflix, and I wouldn’t be shocked if we saw more dating series like this," Holowacz said.
She added: "Especially because right now, the one thing people are all yearning for is human interaction, and as an audience, we tend to connect with characters and people on TV. It’s almost like a substitute for real life right now."
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