NZ live audience members injured in studio mishap

A cautionary tale for other crews, perhaps….

Audience members attending TV3’s New Zealand’s Dancing with the Stars suffered minor injuries after falling backwards from tiered seating.

An audience member told the NZ Herald that three people fell “from a reasonable height” during the night.

“It was pretty dramatic at the time. We didn’t see them again.”

According to the witness, a spokesperson came out shortly afterwards and said they had been checked by St Johns, were fine and had gone home.

A MediaWorks spokesperson, “It is unlikely to happen again, however we have handled this in accordance with our OSH policy and we are modifying that part of the seating to ensure there are no repeats.”

But other audience members told the newspaper, crew initially claimed the injured audience members who “must have been swinging on their seats.”

“This was not the case at all as it was a bit of wood on the floor that gave way. It was very traumatic and I ended up leaving not long after as I didn’t feel comfortable in my seat after that. I was encountered by an older crew member outside who gave me and my mother grief for leaving early [10 minutes early] and also gave attitude to a pregnant lady who left early as she could no longer take sitting down. Was not impressed.”

Another audience member said was no backing wall behind them, “just a rail with a big gap in the middle.”