45 Fun Facts About Double Dare

Double Dare's green slime came from which earlier Nickelodeon series?

You Can't Do That on Television slimed anyone who said 'I don't know'; Double Dare, Nickelodeon's first game show, took the gag much further when it premiered in 1986.

What protective gear did Double Dare contestants wear to run the obstacle course?

Before the obstacle course, kids suited up in helmets, elbow pads and knee pads, since the timed run had them diving, climbing and sliding through goo.

What were the messy stunts on Double Dare officially called?

The stunts were officially 'physical challenges', taken when a team would rather not answer a question; both kids on a team took part in each one.

What opened each round of Double Dare?

A toss-up stunt opened each round: both teams raced to finish it, and the winners took the cash and control of the questions, which started at $10 on the original show.

On the original Double Dare, a dared and double-dared question was worth how many times its value?

Quadruple: a dare doubled a question's value and a double dare doubled it again, so a $10 question became $40, and the team dared back had to answer it or take the stunt.

How did Double Dare partners run the obstacle course?

Taking turns: each of the eight obstacles ended with a flag handed to the partner who ran the next. Co-creator Geoffrey Darby says the pilot had one kid run it all while the other held the flags, so they changed it.

What followed a failed stunt on Double Dare?

The other team got the money, and control of the questions with it. Most stunts allowed just 20 or 30 seconds, and a few as little as 10.

Double Dare's obstacle Pick It was a giant version of what?

A human nose: contestants reached up a nostril full of fake snot for the flag, which stuck so badly that the crew eventually added an air cannon to blow it out.

Which Double Dare obstacle had kids climb a chocolate-covered ramp, then land in ice cream?

The Sundae Slide had kids scramble up a chocolate-covered ramp, then ride a playground slide into a giant sundae; co-creator Mike Klinghoffer says the crew made it harder by putting syrup on its sides.

Which Double Dare obstacle had a contestant run inside a giant drum to set it spinning?

The One-Ton Human Hamster Wheel was hard to start: feet coated in eggs and flour couldn't grip the drum, so designer Byron Taylor says the crew lined the inside with grip tape.

On Double Dare's Gum Drop obstacle, contestants leapt into a giant version of what?

Gum Drop was a giant gumball machine: contestants leapt into the globe full of plastic balls and slid out through the dispensing hatch at the bottom to grab the flag.

On the original Double Dare, the obstacle-course grand prize was usually a vacation or a trip to what?

Space Camp was the classic grand prize on the original and Super Sloppy runs; the night-time Family Double Dare later raised the stakes to a car.

Family Double Dare began in 1988 as a Saturday-night series on which broadcast network?

Fox got Family Double Dare before Nickelodeon did: it ran the family version on Saturday nights in 1988, two years before the cable channel launched its own.

Marc Summers, host of TV's messiest game show, later revealed he has which condition?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Summers recognised his own symptoms in 1994 while preparing a talk-show segment on it, and Nickelodeon's president says he never once complained on the slime-soaked set.

Which YouTube star hosted the 2018 Double Dare revival alongside Marc Summers?

YouTuber Liza Koshy hosted the 2018 revival on Nickelodeon, with original host Marc Summers returning as announcer and sidekick.

What new option did Double Dare 2000 add to round two?

The Triple Dare Challenge let a team in round two swap its stunt for a tougher version, with less time on the clock or an extra item to catch, in return for more money and a bonus prize.

The original Double Dare announcer, a local radio host, was known on air simply as what?

Harvey was John Harvey, a local morning DJ who had just lost his radio show when a Double Dare production assistant, a fan of his, suggested him for the announcer's job.

Robin Marrella and Dave Shikiar appeared on camera in the original Double Dare in which role?

Stage assistants Marrella and Shikiar set up and demonstrated the stunts; Marrella had been hired as a production assistant and was put on camera when producers realised someone had to run them.

Double Dare's original set of glass bricks and pink-and-yellow checkerboards was inspired by which 1980s Italian design group?

Memphis, Ettore Sottsass's Milan-based design collective, set the decade's taste for loud, clashing patterns, and Double Dare's crew had to replicate them across the set by hand in paint.

Geoffrey Darby wanted Double Dare's original set to feel like what?

An indoor swimming pool, or natatorium, was Darby's brief: he liked the word, and wanted tile and vents so the crew could squeegee the mess off the stage without stopping taping.

Double Dare's developers based the format on trivia, truth or dare, and which board game?

Mouse Trap inspired the obstacle course: co-creator Geoffrey Darby recalls the team wanting a big Rube Goldberg machine with a person in place of the ball.

Which comedian was an early candidate to host Double Dare before joining Saturday Night Live?

Dana Carvey, as Marc Summers tells it, got the Double Dare offer the same night Saturday Night Live called and chose SNL; Soupy Sales had already been ruled out as too old.

Why did Nickelodeon make Marc Summers keep his age secret for years?

Focus groups thought he was much younger: viewers took Summers for about 24 when he was 34, so Nickelodeon swore him to secrecy until he was nearly 40.

The original Double Dare was taped at the studios of PBS station WHYY-TV in which city?

Double Dare was taped at WHYY-TV in Philadelphia, where the public broadcaster's studio was far cheaper to use than a New York facility.

Before Double Dare, Marc Summers spent nearly a decade as emcee at a Hollywood club for which kind of performer?

Magicians: Summers, a magician since his teens, emceed at the Magic Castle, and co-creator Geoffrey Darby says his knack for holding kids and adults alike put him 'on top of the heap'.

Nickelodeon's Family Double Dare was taped from 1990 at Universal Studios in which city?

Orlando: Super Sloppy Double Dare began taping at Universal Studios Florida in 1989, a year before the park and Nickelodeon Studios opened to the public, and Family Double Dare followed.

Where did Marc Summers host a one-night Double Dare revival, streamed live for the show's 30th anniversary in 2016?

San Diego Comic-Con: Nickelodeon's retro brand The Splat took over a nightclub there, with All That cast members among the players, and the footage went into that year's reunion special.

Before Double Dare entered syndication in 1988, what colour uniforms did both teams wear?

Red was worn by both teams through the original Nickelodeon run; only when the show entered syndication in 1988 did one team switch to blue.

In 1987, Viacom produced adult-player Double Dare pilots hosted by which Olympic gold medallist?

Caitlyn Jenner, then known as Bruce, the 1976 Olympic decathlon champion, hosted the 1987 adult Double Dare pilots, which never made it to air.

What colour were the flags contestants grabbed at each obstacle on Double Dare's obstacle course?

Orange flags marked every obstacle, and each one grabbed banked a prize. On the first taping day the crew forgot to put the flag in a sack of feathers, and a kid dug for the full 60 seconds.

Family Double Dare signed off in 1993 with a one-hour finale of what kind?

A Tournament of Champions ended the run: two 'brains' families from the final season met in one game, its two fastest obstacle-course families in another, and the winners played for the title.

Which 1980s-set sitcom built a 2016 episode around its young hero auditioning for Double Dare?

The Goldbergs had Adam drop his friend Emmy to audition with his grandfather Pops; two real 1988 contestants, friends of creator Adam F. Goldberg, cameo as the game show's producers.

On the 2018 Double Dare revival, which team kept the money it had earned?

Only the winners kept their cash on the 2018 revival; on every earlier version both teams went home with whatever they had earned, win or lose.

Which Nickelodeon pair captained rival teams in a Double Dare special in 2018?

Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell faced off as Team Kenan and Team Kel, then teamed up the following year as executive producers of Nickelodeon's All That revival.

Which NBA star raced swimmer Michael Phelps through a Double Dare obstacle course at the 2018 Kids' Choice Sports awards?

Chris Paul, hosting the awards that night, took on Phelps himself: Nickelodeon staged the race to promote Double Dare, which had returned to the network only weeks earlier.

Double Dare Challenge opened in 2016 at Nickelodeon Universe inside which giant mall?

Mall of America's Nickelodeon Universe staged Double Dare Challenge as a scaled-down successor to Double Dare Live, a nightly stage show that ran at a Nickelodeon-branded resort hotel until 2016.

Marc Summers revisited Double Dare in 2024 with The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers, which was what kind of production?

An off-Broadway stage show: the one-man play ran at New World Stages on a replica of the Double Dare set, with audience members pulled up to try the show's stunts.

Which other Nickelodeon show did Marc Summers begin hosting in 1991, daring people into outrageous stunts?

What Would You Do? premiered in August 1991 from Nickelodeon Studios, with Summers daring guests to shave off half a beard or take a pie, and often joining the stunts himself.

After Double Dare, Marc Summers became best known for hosting which Food Network series?

Unwrapped toured candy and snack factories for a decade from 2001, and Summers moved behind the camera too, executive-producing Food Network's Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible.

Which former Nickelodeon star returned to play Double Dare in 2018, a decade after her own series ended?

Jamie Lynn Spears, the star of Zoey 101, teamed with her daughter Maddie in a July 2018 episode to take on a team led by fellow All That alum Josh Server.

Reruns of every Double Dare version cycled from 1999 to 2009 on which Nickelodeon spin-off channel?

Nick GAS, short for Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids, launched in 1999 and ran Double Dare reruns alongside other Nick game shows until the channel went dark.

Which shoe company sponsored Double Dare throughout its run?

Reebok put its sneakers on every contestant and stage-crew member, and five years in, host Marc Summers was still wearing what one profile called his 'signature Reeboks'.

Which magazine spoofed Double Dare in 1988 as 'Double Damp', hosted by 'Muck Slummers'?

Mad ran 'Double Damp' in its October 1988 issue, mocking the show's food-flinging and risky stunts; Marc Summers counts being parodied there among the high points of his career.

Which band's 2011 video for 'Last Night' staged a game of Family Double Dare?

Good Charlotte's 2011 'Last Night' video restaged Family Double Dare with the band as contestants, and Marc Summers returned to host the game and lip-sync along.

Which publisher, known for its Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune cartridges, released Double Dare for the NES in 1990?

GameTek, a Florida publisher that built its name on game-show adaptations, handed the NES port of Double Dare to the British studio Rare.