Dancing with the Stars has been rocked by Covid again this weekend as professional dancer Stephen Vincent has been forced to step out of tonight’s quarter final show at the last minute.
RTE confirmed that the dancer, who is Paralympic champion Ellen Keane's dance partner on the show, has tested positive for Covid-19.
They also confirmed that the show will go on for swimmer Ellen tonight, with Ervinas Merfeldas stepping in to dance with her instead.
Stephen is the second pro to be ruled out with the virus this weekend, after pro dancer Salome Chachua has also been forced to bow out of the quarter finals this weekend.
RTE confirmed on Friday that the professional, who is paired with celebrity contestant Jordan Conroy, has tested positive for Covid 19.
While Salome has been ruled out this Sunday, rugby star Jordan, will dance with Emily Barker.
Emily previously danced this season with Aengus Mac Grianna.
RTE said Salome and Stephen will return to the show next weekend ‘all being well’, after a period of isolation.
The new cases come after fellow professional dancer Denys Samson was absent from the show last Sunday, March 6th, after he tested positive for the virus.
His celebrity partner Erica Cody went on to dance with departed pro dancer Ervinas Merfeldas last week to continue her journey in the competition.
Ervinas, who is also stepping in tonight, had been in the competition with Missy Keating before getting booted out in the first dance off of the competition, when they went up against Erica and Denys.
Denys will return to the show this weekend.
The show has been rocked by a number of cases of Covid throughout the series.
In previous weeks, pro cyclist Nicolas Roche and his partner Karen Byrne were forced to pull out of the show after Nicolas tested positive for the virus.
It came after influencer Missy Keating was also forced to miss a week on the show after contracting the coronavirus.
This Sunday's show will see the six finalists and their pro-partners dance to music and routines inspired from various places around the world.
Each dancer will have two dances to perform this weekend - team dances will also take place for the first time this series, with two groups of the three pairs of remaining dancers battling it out in order to secure some more points for themselves on the leaderboard.
- Dancing with the Stars continues at 6.30pm next Sunday on RTÉ One.
