Double Dare (2)

Nickelodeon's most popular (and messiest) game show. Part quiz and part physical challenges. Two teams competed for cash & prizes.

It had five incarnations during its run.

"Super Sloppy Double Dare" - Extra messy version that is more, well, sloppy

"Super Special Double Dare" - two special episodes

"Celebrity Double Dare" - A pilot episode for a proposed celebrity version

"Family Double Dare" - Has family teams playing

"Double Dare 2000" - a short-lived revival, also with family teams playing

Main Game
The show started each episode with "On your mark, get set, go!' The game was played in two rounds, at the beginning of each round, a toss-up challenge was played by both teams. The team that completed the toss-up earned money and control of the round.

Here are more of the rules the way Marc Summers said it:

"I'm gonna be asking you a question, and if you don't know the answer or you think the other team hasn't got a clue, you can dare them to answer it for double the dollars. But be careful, because they can always double dare you back for four times the amount, and then you would either have to answer that question or take the Physical Challenge."

And here's what the rules were talking about:

The team in control was asked a question and a correct answer won money & kept control, but an incorrect answer forfeited control to the opposing team. Here's where the daring comes in; if the team in control does not know the answer or if they think opposing team doesn't know, all they have to do is "Dare" that opposing team, making the value of the question worth double. But if the opposing team still has no idea or vice versa, they can "Double Dare" the first team for quadruple the cash. On a dare or double dare, if the team controlling the question answered incorrectly, the money went to the daring team; on a double dare only, the controlling team could either answer the question or take the physical challenge. The physical challenge in question was a stunt (usually messy) that had to be completed within the time limit, doing so won the double dare amount, but running out of time and not completing the challenge gave the opposing team the money. During the Nickelodeon's Super Sloppy Double Dare era, each time any team takes a Physical Challenge, a home viewer's name was drawn out of a special mailbox next to Marc's podium, and then Marc would announce that viewer's name. Should the team playing the Physical Challenge complete the Physical Challenge, the chosen home viewer won an Etch-a-Sketch Animator; if not, then the viewer still won a Double Dare T-shirt. In Double Dare 2000 in the second round, all physical challenges come with what's called the "Triple Dare Challenge". The team playing that challenge could decide to either take the "Triple Dare Challenge" or go for the normal physical challenge. When playing the "Triple Dare Challenge", if the team completed it in time, they win triple the dare value and a prize; otherwise the opposing team got the prize & money.

Here how the players scored for success:
 * Round 1 - Question - $10, Dare - $20, Double Dare/Physical Challenge - $40
 * Round 2 - Question - $20, Dare - $40, Double Dare/Physical Challenge - $80

Here how the players scored in the Family Double Dare era:
 * Round 1 - Question - $25, Dare - $50, Double Dare/Physical Challenge - $100
 * Round 2 - Question - $50, Dare - $100, Double Dare/Physical Challenge - $200

The Triple Dare Challenge on Double Dare 2000 was worth $300.

In regular Double Dare and Fox's Family Double Dare, the toss-ups were worth the dare value; but in the Nickelodeon version of Family Double Dare and in Double Dare 2000, the toss-ups were worth the normal value of the question.

The rounds were played in an unmentioned time limit, and the round(s) ended with the sound of a double buzz. The team with the most money at the end of round two won the game although both teams get to keep the cash with (starting in 1987) a house-minimum guarantee of $100 ($200 in Double Dare 2000; $500 in Fox's Family Double Dare). The winning team also earned the right to run the Double Dare Obstacle Course.

Obstacle Course
The winning team had 60 seconds to run through eight obstacles. In each obstacle, the goal was to perform a certain task/run through something, then grab an orange flag from a pole or attached to the obstacle or simply finding that flag. Once the player doing that obstacle got the flag, he/she must then pass it to his/her partner. For each obstacle completed the team won a prize, and clearing the entire course (all eight obstacles) also won a grand prize.

In FOX's Family Double Dare, the seventh obstacle was the cash obstacle which offered a cash jackpot that started at $2,000 and $500 added to it each time it wasn't won.

In Double Dare 2000, the Obstacle Course was called the "Slopstacle Course".

Celebrity Double Dare Pilot
In the 1987 Celebrity Double Dare pilot, the game was played the same way except that true to its name, celebrities played with civilian contestants. There were other differences between this pilot & the other versions of Double Dare.


 * The amounts were double of FOX's Family Double Dare amounts.
 * Only one toss-up challenge was played which was in the first round.
 * All questions were two-parters and each player must answer each half in order to score.
 * Teams always took turns answering questions regardless of who answered the question or not.
 * In the Obstacle Course, there were seven obstacles instead of the usual eight. The time to run the Obstacle Course was not 60 seconds but 90 seconds. The contestant did two of the obstacles (2 & 4) while the celebrity partner did four (1, 3, 5, & 6); both players did the final obstacle (#7). Instead of grabbing or finding flags, the player performing the obstacle must hit a button by the obstacle after finishing it. The grand prize was a new car which carried over into the Family shows.

Team Uniforms
When the show started, both teams wore red outfits despite the fact that one of the teams stood in front of a blue background. Starting in 1988, to avoid confusion, only one team was dressed in red and other team was dressed in blue ; plus, both teams stood in front of their appropriate backgrounds except in FOX’s Family Double Dare.

(Family) Double Dare
Robin Marella

Dave Shikiar (1986-1990)

Jamie Bojanowski (Family Double Dare 1990, Super Special Double Dare 1992)

Chris Miles (Family Double Dare 1992)

Double Dare 2000
Jeffrey Lamar

Will Finley

Tia Marie Schroeder

Music
Main 1986 - "On Your Marc" by Edd Kalehoff

Pilot 1987 - Unknown

2000 - Rick Witkowski (based on "On Your Marc" by Edd Kalehoff)

Inventors
Geoffrey Darby

Michael Klinghoffer

Dee LaDuke

Bob Mittenthal

International Versions
Double Dare has also aired in these countries:
 * United Kingdom (1987-1992) (as a segment of Going Live)
 * Australia (1989-1992)
 * Brazil (1987-2000) (Passa ou Repassa)
 * Canada (French) (1989-1991) (Double Defi)
 * France (2012-present)
 * Germany (1991-1994) (Drops!)
 * India (2004) (Nick Dum Duma Dum)
 * Netherlands (1989-1990) (DD Show)

Merchandise
A game for the Commodore 64 and DOS was released in 1988, while the NES version was released in 1990 by GameTek.

In Popular Culture

 * Double Dare made an appearance in the 1990 film failure Ghost Dad starring Bill Cosby. Cosby would go on to host the 90s revival of You Bet Your Life two years later.
 * In the 1990 Tiny Toon Adventures episode “Europe In 30 Minutes”, Super Sloppy Double Dare was parodied as “Sloppy Dirty Dare” with Blink Winkleman as the host. In this parody, Blink asks Plucky Duck to guess which country is shaped like a boot. Then Plucky guesses Italy, and is correct. The prizes he wins included a pocket protector, a pair of left-handed scissors and a trip to Europe with all of his friends onboard the fabulous Concorde (who is later revealed to be Concord Condor).
 * The Nostalgia Critic (a.k.a Doug Walker) did a review of Double Dare as part of Nickelodeon Month in 2008.
 * Double Dare was mentioned in a 2008 episode of Robot Chicken called Chirlaxx, where it was a special celebrity edition. The red team had Daredevil and Stevie Wonder and the blue team had Marlee Matlin and Helen Keller. When the score was tied at 500 points apiece, neither team answered the last question correctly. Therefore, Helen took the Physical Challenge by jumping through 3 hoops on a trike. Eventually, she landed in a pit of slime making the Red team the champion.
 * A 2011 episode of Comedy Central's Workaholics called "We Be Ballin": Marc Summers makes a cameo appearance as himself. He even makes a semi-Double Dare-ish reference by saying, "That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen, and I've seen a grown man pull a flag out of a giant nose." (This is obviously from the obstacle course from the show better known as Pick It or Da Nose.)
 * In the 2001 music video for the cover of the late Michael Jackson's 1988 hit Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm, you can see a drummer named Cosgrove wearing a red Super Sloppy Double Dare T-Shirt on.
 * The 2011 music video for Good Charlotte's Last Night, features a recreated set of Family Double Dare, with Marc Summers and Harvey appering as themselves.
 * A 2012 episode of The Cleveland Show called March Dadness, spoofed Double Dare as Dare Squared featuring the voice of Marc Summers as himself. The spoof starts with Cookie doing the first challenge in the obstacle course called Happy Birthday for which she goes down a water-slide of a pregnant lady giving birth, while grabbing the first flag by giving it to Freight Train. The second obstacle course is called The Royal Flush in which Freight Train climbs a ladder that resembles a roll of toilet paper while he says I'm number one, but I'm going down like number two for which he grabs the handlebar and gets flush down to the pipe to a sewer for which he moves the two fakes rats and grabs the 2nd flag in which he gives it to Cleveland (as a child). The 3rd and final obstacle course was called The FlapJack Attack in which Cleveland has a hard time locating the 3rd flag (in which it was located under the butter) causing them to lose the Trip to Orlando, Florida.

Famous Double Dare Catchphrase
“On Your Mark! Get Set! GO!” - Marc Summers/Jason Harris

Opening Catchphrases
“Thank you, Harvey. Thank you, audience. Welcome to (Super Sloppy/Family) Double Dare. This is the show where you can/that dares you to run through our crazy obstacle course, and in the process, win eight fabulous prizes.”

“Thank you, Harvey. Thank you, audience. Welcome to Family Double Dare. This is the show that invites your family to come along to make a mess of cash.” (FOX Family Double Dare only)

Other Catchphrases
"No Dare at stake, no money changing place." - Marc Summers said this after the controlling team answered a question incorrectly without a dare.

"Welcome back to Double Dare and it's round two where all the dollar values are doubled, and when you hear this sound (right here)... (buzz-buzz/bzzzz!) ...that means the game is over." - Marc Summers/Jason Harris at the start of round two.

"Yeah! Celebrate! Go Crazy!" - Jason Harris (2000)

Trivia
Double Dare recently came back as a stage show at the Nickelodeon Suites Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Links
doubledare.tv

DoubleDareSupersite.com

Joey's Double Dare Page

The Double Dare Slopsite

Rules for Double Dare (2)

Jay's Double Dare (2) Page

Rules for the Celebrity Double Dare Pilot

Josh Rebich's Double Dare Rule Sheets