That Green Slime Game Show Turns 40
The kids’ game show that got its start in the ’80s and ’90s but had enough staying power to continue into the 2000s – is celebrating its 40th anniversary!
It’s “Double Dare!”
The game show on Nickelodeon had us glued to our TVs as kids, watching other kids pick giant noses, go down the Sundae Slide, and get slimed!
The original version ran from 1986 to 1989. “Family Double Dare” ran from 1990 to 1993, and a few specials followed. “Double Dare 2000” then ran in the year 2000, and in 2018, another revival of the show aired for about a year.
The original host of the show, Marc Summers, is now 74, and he’s been reminiscing as he prepares to host a reunion special!
He told People Magazine the job was life-changing. “There was never a bad day on the set of Double Dare, whether it was real-life kids who we picked up from Philly or New Jersey or then we shot in New York for a while, and then we shot down in Orlando, but every day was a good day,” Summers said.
The show featured two teams of two kids who compete to answer trivia questions and do some very messy physical challenges. If you answered a trivia question correctly, you won money and control. If you answered incorrectly, the other team could either dare or double dare you to do a stunt. It all ended with the winning team racing through eight giant obstacles in 60 seconds to grab flags and win the grand prize.
We loved watching all the challenges and obstacle courses. Remember Pies in the Pants, when the kids had to catch pies in giant clown pants? Or run on the giant hamster wheel? Or go fishing in a giant human nose for a flag during the obstacle course? We were always partial to the Sundae Slide, the chocolate-covered kids’ slide with ice cream at the bottom!
But, the BEST part of “Double Dare” was the slime! It was always part of the show – the green gunk flowed freely!
Summers revealed what was in the slime: “The original recipe was vanilla pudding, applesauce, green food coloring, and a little oatmeal to thicken it up. When we brought it back the last time, when I was exec producing and a sidekick to another host, they had a new formula to slime, and when we went in there, you could build the viscosity, the thickness, the thinness. Do you want it to sort of slowly drip down? Do you want it to drip down fast? And I’m assuming it’s still edible, ‘cause if the kids got it in their mouth, it had to be edible, but it just didn’t look the same and it didn’t smell as good.”
Summers just hosted a special 40th anniversary celebration, that was taped and will be available to stream starting October 31. The show will bring back Summers, Harvey the announcer, and sidekick Robin. They even hosted physical challenges, and yes, they brought back the slime!
You’ll have to pre-order the pay-per-view to see the reunion, and you can learn more about it here.
After the show, Summers went public with his OCD diagnosis, admitting the messy challenges presented, well, a challenge for him. But he always had a positive outlook on the show. “You’re getting paid to do something you always wanted to do your entire life. You do what they tell you. And so, yeah, I had got slimed and whipped creamed and had stuff dumped on me, and we would be ready to do the obstacle course and the kids would say, ‘At the end of the course, if we go all the way, can we throw stuff at you?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, whatever you want,'” he told People.
Check more of Summer’s “Double Dare” memories below!
