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[ActStriker]

When Double Dare premiered in 1986, it became an instant kid-friendly sensation. Hosted by Marc Summers, the gak-soaked Nickelodeon game show aired in some form or another on the network until 1993. Although the show would return years later as Double Dare 2000 with host Jason Harris, the Summers years were the show’s glory days, a bacchanal of gloppy intensity and genial after-school gaming, something that former viewers, now in their 30s or middle-aged, have come to remember with increasing fondness as the years have gone by.

This Wednesday night, Nickelodeon will air a special commemorative episode of Double Dare celebrating the show’s 30th anniversary year. Summers will return, along with announcer John Harvey and production assistant Robin Russo. In the spirit of that super sloppy reunion, The A.V. Club set out to discover the origins of the obstacle course, the show’s most memorable and popular segment. Below, in oral history form, you’ll hear from the show’s creators and production staff, as well as from Summers, Russo, and Harvey themselves. The results are fascinating, a look back at a relatively undocumented time in television that viewers might remember but not know the stories behind. Slip on your big, white Reeboks; grab a set of kneepads; and get reading.

http://www.avclub.com/article/it-smelled-death-oral-history-double-dare-obstacle-245939

dem feels man

Some episodes are embedded in the article.

 

[Dalek]

When I was a kid I really wanted to be on that obstacle course. But picking that giant nose was disgusting.

 

[HStallion]

I always wanted to be on Family Double Dare. As a kid I watched the show so damn much and basically figured out the easiest way to get through the obstacles. Some of them were stupidly easy if you knew what you were doing. I would have held my nose for all those school supplies lol.

 

[forrest]

The Goldbergs episode on Double Dare was pretty great. I'll have to bookmark this and read it when I get time.

 

[zeemumu]

What really blew me away is that the host had OCD and liked to keep things neat and tidy.

 

[Bgamer90]

Huge Double Dare fan. Reading this now.

I remember reading an article a few years back about how they kept a huge tank of baked beans during the taping of the third season of Double Dare (so 1988). Marc said that they got sewer cleaners to dump it out and they said that it was the worst job they had to do "even though (they) clean up crap".

 

[Bgamer90]

What really blew me away is that the host had OCD and liked to keep things neat and tidy.

Marc didn't know he had OCD until the show ended. He really enjoyed doing the show. News about his OCD blew up around 1997/1998 and at the time he was set to be the host of Whoopi Goldberg's Hollywood Squares. The producers thought Marc's OCD would be a challenge to deal with so they dumped him at the last minute and chose Tom Bergeron to be the host.

 

[Neuromancer]

At the end of season one, we’d done 65 episodes or something, and you figure, “Well, hell. We’ll never do this again. We’ll get canceled.” Well, we got picked up, but they didn’t clean that blue, shiny floor particularly well. So when they unrolled it, anybody who touched that floor broke out in the most disgusting blisters. It was like everybody had leprosy. It was the most bizarre thing in the world. Anybody who touched anything on that floor who then touched their face would break out in horrible stuff.

Wow

 

[Dalek]

Marc didn't know he had OCD until the show ended. He really enjoyed doing the show. News about his OCD blew up around 1997/1998 and at the time he was set to be the host of Whoopi Goldberg's Hollywood Squares. The producers thought Marc's OCD would be a challenge to deal with so they dumped him at the last minute and chose Tom Bergeron to be the host.

Wow-weird. Howie Mandel and Howard Stern also have massive OCD and germ issues-and both game show hosts.

 

[studyguy]

Double Dare was fucking crazy after reading Marc Sommer's retelling of it. Dude beat the shit out of parents with whipcream pies, some dude had his penis chopped in half in the stands due to accidents, people got fucked up on the dares.

Love it.

 

[Dalek]

Wow

 

[Bgamer90]

Wow

Yeah that's crazy. It's crazy because that was during the first season of the show which was definitely the cleanest season of Double Dare ever. I wonder how much work they had to do for the later seasons (Super Sloppy Double Dare and Family Double Dare) to make sure that stuff didn't happen.

 

[Skittles]

Wow

This is some SCP/Magnus Archives type shit.

Too young to of heard of double dare but it sounds crazy. I'll have to read up on it some more

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Holy crap at the baked beans.

 

[maxcriden]

The gak was edible, right? I think I read that sometime.

 

[Fat4all]

oh boy, a trip to space camp and

 

[Sephzilla]

Wow

 

[Tobor]

The bit about the prizes is dead on. Who wants encyclopedias? I always wanted the Nintendo(even though I already had one) or the VCR. Anything electronic was highly coveted.

Bicycles and skateboards were cool, but give me a color TV or stereo any day.

 

[Poltergust]

The gak was edible, right? I think I read that sometime.

Wasn't it supposed to be apple sauce or something?

 

[Bgamer90]

The gak was edible, right? I think I read that sometime.

Gak was just pudding and whipped cream I believe. Actual food items were past their expiration date though.