Nickelodeon 'Double Dare' host Marc Summers says 'Quiet on Set' producers blindsided him
Nickelodeon's "Double Dare" host Marc Summers says his appearance on the bombshell "Quiet on Set" documentary detailing the abuse of child stars was the result of a "bait and switch."
The game show host, during an appearance on the "Elvis Duran and the Morning Show" this week, described his interview for the documentary as an ambush.
After telling the radio show hosts they were going to get "an exclusive," the "What Would You Do?" host said he was called and asked to be part of a documentary about Nickelodeon. Summers, 72, said he didn't know at the time that the documentary was set to be about toxic behavior on the sets of Nickelodeon shows occurring after his stint on "Double Dare."
"They asked me what I thought of Nick, and the first 10 to 12 seconds, from what I understand, in this documentary is me saying all these wonderful things. But they did a bait-and-switch on me," he said. "They ambushed me. They never told me what this documentary was really about."
USA TODAY has reached out to the documentary's directors and production companies — Maxine Productions, Sony Pictures Television nonfiction and Business Insider — for comment.
Summers appears in the series briefly, including during a part of the conversation where he is shown a video of a Dan Schneider-produced show. The host asked, "Did that air on Nickelodeon?" and before continuing, he said he stopped the interview and asked, "What are we doing?"
Summers hosted "Double Dare" from 1986 to 1993, before Schneider's first Nick show "All That" debuted in 1994.
Why 'Quiet on Set' documentaryon Nickelodeon scandal exposes the high price of kids TV
He said when producers told him what the documentary was about — toxic behavior on the set of Schneider's shows and abuse experienced by the network's child stars — he walked out. He goes on to say he was told several weeks ago that he would not appear in the show, but a couple of weeks after that, he was told he was in it, but only the first part, when talking about positive things about Nickelodeon.
"What they didn’t tell me, and they lied to me about, was the fact that they put in that other thing where they had the camera on me when they ambushed me," he said. "And so, now we get into a whole situation about who's unethical."
Surprise 5th episode of 'Quiet on Set'to feature Drake Bell and other stars: How to watch
'Quiet on Set': Former child stars, producers, writers speak up about toxic Nickelodeon sets
Drake Bell of "Drake & Josh" and "The Amanda Show" detailed in the documentary the abuse he suffered from former Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck when he was 15. Peck was arrested in 2003 and convicted in 2004 for lewd acts with a child from the 2001 incident.
Other actors, including Alexa Nikolas of "Zoey 101" and "All That" stars Giovonnie Samuels, Kyle Sullivan, Bryan Hearne and Katrina Johnson, discuss "traumatizing" behavior and racism they experienced on the Nick set.
Producers, writers and other behind-the-scenes workers from "All That," "The Amanda Show," "Zoey 101," "Sam & Cat, "Drake & Josh" and "Victorious" also spoke during the doc.
Contributing: Brendan Morrow, Naledi Ushe and Mary Walrath-Holdridge