A  week after news broke that the premiere of Battle of the Blades had been postponed after a member of the production team tested positive for COVID-19, the season-six launch has been given the all clear to go ahead.

Originally scheduled to take place on Oct. 15, the new season will now premiere a week later on Thursday, Oct. 22. The two-hour live episode begins at 8 p.m on CBC TV and CBC Gem.

The pubcaster and production company Insight Productions last week called a temporary halt to all training and pre-production to ensure the safety of cast and crew following the positive test. Battle of the Blades is filmed at CAA Centre in Brampton, ON.

The new season will be hosted by Ron MacLean and singer-songwriter, TV host and actress Keshia Chanté. The teams for season six are Violetta Afanasieva and Anthony Stewart, Meghan Agosta and Andrew Poje, Jennifer Botterill and Eric Radford, Jessica Campbell and Asher Hill, Meagan Duhamel and Wojtek Wolski, Carlotta Edwards and Kris Versteeg, Vanessa James and Akim Aliu, and Kaitlyn Weaver and Bryan Bickell.

The series is executive produced by Insight’s John Brunton, Lindsay Cox, Erin Brock and Mark Lysakowski and co-created and executive produced by Sandra Bezic.

In spring 2019, CBC and Insight revealed that Battle of the Blades would return for a fifth season, almost six years after it was cancelled due to significant budgetary cuts at the public broadcaster. The fifth season debuted last September.