'Dancing with the Stars' season 23 news update: Producers consider increased security for Ryan Lochte
Following the incident involving Ryan Lochte's protesters on Monday night's "Dancing with the Stars" season 23 premiere, ABC is reportedly considering increased security for the show, particularly for new contestant Ryan Lochte.
In August, Lochte made international headlines after he made false claims about being robbed at gunpoint while staying in Rio de Janeiro for the Rio Summer Olympics. Last week, the United States Olympic Committee and USA Swimming suspended the Olympian for 10 months.
BBC Worldwide, which produces the reality dancing competition, is supposedly discussing the need to amp up security around the controversial Olympic swimmer after he was rushed by two members of the audience on Monday, a source told Variety.
The incident occurred while Lochte was performing with dance partner Cheryl Burke and interrupted the show's live broadcast on ABC.
Sam Sotoodeh, 59, and Barzeen Soroudi, 25, stormed the stage to protest Lochte's casting in the reality show and were tackled by the show's security personnel. The two were detained at CBS Television City, where "Dancing with the Stars" is shot, and were later arrested by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department. They were charged with suspicion of trespassing. No one on the show was injured during the incident.
According to Good Morning America, Sotoodeh and Soroudi have been released from the LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center. They are scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 4.
Videos from the Monday night showed Sotoodeh suddenly appearing in front of Lochte before he was tackled by security personnel. He was wearing a shirt that had Lochte's name with a slash through it. Afterwards, more audience members wearing the same shirt stood up and made their presence known.
"Dancing with the Stars" host Tom Bergeron called the incident "unnerving" and said, "I applaud our security team for making it very short."
"By the time I saw the two guys coming with their T-shirts, our security team had them sucking floor," he told GMA.
"Dancing with the Stars" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC.