Dancing with the Stars is amping up its security big time after the incident last week in which two men crashed the ballroom floor in protest of contestant Ryan Lochte.
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During last Monday night's performance show, protesters interrupted the judges' feedback after Lochte, an Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, danced for the first time this season with his pro partner Cheryl Burke.
"It was very scary," the source said. "You didn't know what was going on. Security handled it very poorly."
Significant changes will reportedly be made when audience members attempt to enter the Television City studio in Hollywood, CA, where Dancing with the Stars films.
"This time they're going to be patting people down," the source told Page Six. "They've already sent out a memo saying come an extra hour early... They're going to lockdown the stage an hour ahead of time."
Additional security was also reportedly implemented over the weekend for rehearsals.
Protesters Sam Sotoodeh and Barzeen Soroudi told TMZ they wanted to shame Lochte for the Summer 2016 scandal in Rio in which he fabricated a story about being robbed at gunpoint when he actually helped to vandalize a gas station's bathroom. They claimed the Olympian had embarrassed and endangered Americans because of his cowardly act.
The two men had jumped in front of the DWTS judges and host Tom Bergeron wearing white anti-Lochte T-shirts and yelling "liar" multiple times at Lochte during the broadcast last week.
Sotoodeh and Soroudi were ultimately released from the LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center with their bail set at $1,000 each, according to ABC News. They were charged with trespassing and are due back in court October 4.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
