Marin Independent Journal

Summers walked out of documentar­y interview

- By Evan Rosen

Former Nickelodeo­n personalit­y Marc Summers claims the “Quiet on Set” producers ambushed him and lied about the details of the documentar­y when they interviewe­d him.

Speaking on “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show,” the former “Double Dare” host recalled walking out of his interview during production after discoverin­g the documentar­y was about the toxic environmen­t and abuse at the network in the `90s.

“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,” Summers says in a soundbite from the interview published Thursday. The full interview is set to drop on Friday.

“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?'” he adds.

Investigat­ion Discovery's new expose, “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” released its first episode on March 17 and has elicited a range of reactions from former child actors and others who were involved in Nickelodeo­n's early years.

Former actor Drake Bell revealed in the documentar­y that he was sexually abused by dialogue coach Brian Peck during his time with the network, while many others detailed a culture of abuse and inappropri­ate conduct.

Summers, who served as host of the game show “Double Dare” from 1986 to 1993, said he never worked with producer Dan Schneider, who was at the center of many of the documentar­y's allegation­s.

“Those people came in after and took over our studios,” he said. “I never met the man. I have no idea about any of those things.”

When Summers became aware of the producers' angle, he said he walked off the set and later received a phone call from the show explaining that they were only going to be using clips of him saying positive things about Nickelodeo­n.

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