Double Dare host Marc Summers didn’t have a lot to say in the Quiet On Set doc — but he has a lot to say ABOUT it!
As we’ve been reporting, Quiet On Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV has been a complete bombshell dropped on all our memories of the Nickelodeon network, telling some true horror stories of some of its early stars.
Drake Bell revealed he was abused by his dialogue coach, convicted sex offender Brian Peck. There were also allegations against Nick’s “golden boy” creator Dan Schneider — who it turns out put a LOT of creepy s**t in plain sight on his shows!
It’s a heartbreaking watch, to say the least. But Marc wasn’t a fan. And now the game show host from back in the day is opening up about his own terrible experience filming… the documentary, not on Nick! He says the doc producers “ambushed” him!
Related: Melissa Joan Hart Opens Up About Her Nickelodeon Days After Quiet On Set!
In a new interview with Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, the 72-year-old opened up about filming the Investigation Discovery series — and why he was barely in it at all. He claims the production team hadn’t even told him what the show was about until after they started his interview!
“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. They ambushed me. They never told me what this documentary was really about. And so they showed me a video of something that I couldn’t believe was on Nickelodeon. And I said, ‘Well, let’s stop the tape right here. What are we doing?’”
Wow…
Marc said it was at this point he completely pulled the plug on the interview:
“I left. So I got a phone call about six weeks ago saying you’re totally out of the show. And I went, ‘Great.’ Then they called me about four weeks ago and said, ‘Well, you’re in it, but you’re only in the first part of it because you talked about the positive stuff of Nickelodeon.’”
Even that would have been a little awkward, considering what was in the bulk of the doc. But it got worse:
“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. And so, now we get into a whole situation about who’s unethical.”
What he’s referring to is a scene in the doc where he’s presented with various creepy moments in kids shows such as Sam & Cat and Victorious which were under the reign of Schneider. In the clip, he says:
“Did that air on Nickelodeon?”
The host said he felt it was “unethical” because he claims to have never once met the disgraced producer, as his time on Double Dare came to an end long before Nickelodeon hired Schneider:
“Those people came in after and took over our studios. I never met the man, I have no idea about any of those things. I mean, I know Kenan [Thompson] from Kenan and Kel because we’ve done stuff together. But as far as anything that happened on that show with any of those people, I never met any of them. I didn’t know anybody. But it made it seem like I knew those people.”
The comedian’s time on Nick came to an end in 1993, while All That — the first show the screenwriter worked on — didn’t premiere until 1994. His story does line up, so it’s likely he just didn’t want to speak on something he had no experience with. It’s slightly different from Amanda Bynes, who also chose to stay quiet because her experience was different, though it was at the same time.
That’s reasonable, of course. Maybe he doesn’t have anything to say! Though we do have to wonder if he just doesn’t want to bite the hand that fed him for so many years? Hmm.
As for what he’s going to do about it? He claims he’s going to have a long talk with the producers:
“Well, there’s a phone call coming today at 3 o’clock.”
Wild! What do U think, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via Rachael Ray Show/Nickelodeon/YouTube]
