Jenna Ortega is making headlines for the now-infamous viral dance number in her Netflix show Wednesday –– but it's not because of her stellar moves. The actress recently admitted to having COVID while filming the dance scene.
While speaking to NME the actress revealed she awoke with COVID symptoms on the day of her big scene.
"Yeah, I woke up and – it's weird, I never get sick and when I do it's not very bad – I had the body aches," she told the magazine.
"I felt like I'd been hit by a car and that a little goblin had been let loose in my throat and was scratching the walls of my esophagus. They were giving me medicine between takes because we were waiting on the positive result," she recalled.
Her test did not come back positive until after she filmed the scene, but she struggled to get through it she felt so unwell.
"I choreographed that myself!" Ortega said. "I'm not a dancer and I'm sure that's obvious. I'd gotten the song ["Goo Goo Muck" by The Cramps] about a week before and I just pulled from whatever I could."
Dancing is one of my favorite things to do. Along with gravedigging, conducting autopsies, and glaring uncomfortably. pic.twitter.com/q5sHhp82Rr
— Wednesday Addams (@wednesdayaddams) November 25, 2022
"It's crazy," she added. "Because it was my first day with COVID so it was awful to film."
Ortega also thinks if she'd been at 100 percent, she might have danced even better. "I asked to redo it but we didn't have time," she admitted. "I think I probably could have done it a bit better…"
Ortega's COVID admission has sparked a conversation amongst fans as to why the young actress was allowed to shoot after showing symptoms of the contagious virus.
A rep for the actress did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
MGM, the production company that creates Wednesday, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
MGM said in a statement to NME that "strict COVID protocols were followed and once the positive test was confirmed production removed Jenna from set."
On reddit, an entire forum is dedicated to the topic, with many upset that she was allowed to be near so many other people during filming. "It's not even a one on one shot,it was literally a whole dance club scene with a lot of people involved," wrote one user. "I don't blame Jenna because she informed them in time but I think it was highly irresponsible of the makers to continue the shoot especially since it involved a crowd."
Another user chimed also chimed in: "It's such a failure of those in charge and so disrespectful to anyone on set who is high risk or lives with someone who is."
Twitter users also shared their thoughts on the situation. "She shouldve been isolated — not made to keep working while feeling ill," tweeted a user. "forcing jenna ortega to keep working and spreading covid around the set is so negligent of the producers and studio."
"Jenna Ortega having COVID on set and working unmasked around other unmasked performers is not a flex," tweeted one user. "She should not be praised for 'working while sick.' The above the line crew could've possibly disabled or killed someone for their irresponsibility."
According to the CDC, a person should isolate if sick and suspect they have COVID but do not yet have test results. If the results are positive, people should follow the full isolation recommendations which include staying away from others for at least five days.
Netflix's new series, is officially one of Netflix's most popular shows of all time, having become the first English-language series to surpass 400 million viewing hours in a single week.
As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from the CDC, WHO and local public health departments.
