If you grew up in the ’80s, chances are your afternoons involved racing home, flipping on Nickelodeon, and watching kids get absolutely covered in slime. That messy magic all began in 1986 with the debut of Double Dare—Nickelodeon’s very first game show and one of the most iconic programs in the network’s history.
Premiering on October 6, 1986, Double Dare put two teams head-to-head as they answered trivia questions and tackled outrageous physical challenges. The show originally ran until 1993 and proved so popular that it later returned in revivals in 2000 and again in 2018. But nothing quite matched the excitement of that original run.
How Double Dare Was Born
In the mid-1980s, Nickelodeon was searching for something completely new. Production and consulting groups pitched the idea of a game show for kids—something the network had never tried before. Focus groups revealed an interesting insight: kids loved watching game shows with adults, but there wasn’t one designed just for them.
So Nickelodeon created a brand-new format, blending trivia, the risk-taking fun of Truth or Dare, and the chaotic spirit of the board game Mouse Trap. The result? Controlled chaos, kid-friendly competition, and lots and lots of slime.
Finding the Perfect Host
Before Double Dare found its forever host, producers considered a few familiar names, including children’s TV legend Soupy Sales and rising comedian Dana Carvey. Sales was ultimately deemed too old for the role, and Carvey soon landed an audition for Saturday Night Live.
After reviewing more than 1,000 applicants from New York and Los Angeles, producers narrowed it down to two finalists. One of them was a television warm-up comedian named Marc Summers, who originally attended a tryout just to support a friend. He passed audition after audition and officially landed the job in September 1986.
At 34 years old, Summers tested so well with focus groups—who thought he was more than a decade younger—that Nickelodeon actually required him to keep his real age a secret for years.
The Messy Challenges We’ll Never Forget
Each episode of Double Dare escalated from trivia to physical challenges and ended with the legendary obstacle course. Covered in slime, whipped cream, and every sticky substance imaginable, kids sprinted through fan-favorite obstacles like:
-
The One-Ton Human Hamster Wheel
-
Pick It, the giant human nose hiding a flag
-
The Sundae Slide, a chocolate-covered ramp leading to a slide and ice cream at the bottom
-
Gum Drop, a massive gumball machine filled with plastic balls
The set even had its own sewage system so crew members could wash the mess straight into floor grates. Prizes ranged from TVs and electronics to encyclopedias, concert tickets, gift certificates, and cash. The ultimate prize on the original series was often a vacation or an unforgettable experience at Space Camp.
Behind-the-Scenes Reality
While the show was all fun on screen, it wasn’t without risk. Marc Summers later revealed that two children were injured during obstacle course runs. In one case, a contestant with brittle bone disease was hurt after his parents failed to disclose the condition. In another, a boy slipped on the “Sewer Chute” ladder and fell backward—an accident Summers initially feared was fatal. Thankfully, the child survived, and the situation was quietly settled.
A Game-Changing Success
Almost immediately after its debut, Double Dare more than tripled Nickelodeon’s afternoon viewership. It became the most-watched original daily program on cable television at the time and helped cement Nickelodeon as a major force in kids’ entertainment. The show didn’t just define a network—it revived the entire children’s game show genre for the late ’80s and ’90s.
Today, Double Dare still holds the title of Nickelodeon’s longest-running game show. And for anyone who remembers yelling answers at the TV or dreaming of diving headfirst into a pool of slime, 1986 will always be the year it all began.