If you're an '80s or '90s kid who was lucky enough to have access to cable, then one of
your childhood dreams was most certainly to get slimed on national television.
But while Nickelodeon brought joy and electronic babysitting to you and millions of other kids,
it was also the centerpiece of a huge corporate empire.
And like any business, it's got some skeletons in its closet.
Grab your orange blimpies: We're about to wipe the secretive slime off of Nickelodeon's
most disturbing secrets.
Gak is whack!
Remember that squishy, slimy, gross ball of mush you begged for as a child because literally
everyone had it and you would just die if you didn't have it, too?
That stuff was called Gak, and lots of Nick shows and events liberally employed
the use of green slime, including Double Dare.
On that show, both on-screen and behind the scenes, that slime was called "gak," which
was a gnarly inside joke, and one that some staffers took straight from the streets.
As Double Dare host Marc Summers explained on an episode of the YouTube series Geeking
Out, at the time the show was in production, "gak" was a slang term for stuff, something
they were well aware of when they decided to co-opt it for a children's show.
"Gak attack!"
Whoopie pie
Sneaking drug references into kids shows wasn't the only iffy moment Summers had as host of
Double Dare and Family Double Dare.
Summers told Mathew Klickstein, author of SLIMED!
An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age that a few days after hitting a woman with
a pie on Family Double Dare, he received a call from a lawyer representing Nick's corporate
overlords at Viacom.
The contestant had threatened to sue, because according to the lawyer,
"The lady said she can't have it anymore since you threw a pie in her face."
To avoid a courtroom battle, Viacom reportedly wrote the woman a check for $25,000.
Rocko's far too modern life
Rocko's Modern Life was infamous for its lewd jokes and crass content.
There are numerous examples of adults-only humor on this show, such as how Rocko eats
at a place called "Chokey Chicken," or that time he lands a job as a phone operator at
a "one-on-one" hotline, where there's a sign in his cubicle reminding him to "be hot" and
"be naughty."
And yet there was at least one line the network wouldn't allow Rocko to cross.
On October 23rd, 1994, an episode titled "Road Rash" aired, although what viewers saw was
not the original edit the animators created.
What viewers did see: Rocko and Heffer entering a motel suggestively named the No Tell Motel.
What viewers did not see: some very adult references to exactly why the place was called
the No Tell Motel.
"Won't have room for another 20 minutes.
You wait?
Oh!
We have premature departure!"
A truth bomb about SpongeBob
If you ever wondered just where all the weird characters in SpongeBob Squarepants came from,
the answer is hidden right in plain sight.
It's hinted throughout the series that Bikini Bottom, where SpongeBob and his friends all
live, is beneath Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific - which is the site where the United
States conducted nuclear testing in the 1940s.
This would suggest that SpongeBob and his friends are nuclear-derived mutants.
The proof is in the radioactive pudding.
How else do you explain Toxic Waste Monthly, a popular periodical on the show?
Dora vs. the D-D-D-D-Defendant
In 2008, 12-year-old voice actor Caitlin Sanchez took on the role of Dora in the hit series
Dora the Explorer.
In 2010, she sued Nickelodeon for making her sign what she believed was a terrible contract
that conned her out of millions.
She specifically cited unpaid work hours as well as a contracted $40 payment for promotional
appearances.
Sanchez settled for $500,000, but later tried to re-sue because she and her family think
her lawyer acted fraudulently and didn't tell her that most of her settlement would be eaten
by taxes and lawyer fees.
C'mon, Nickelodeon, didn't you learn anything from Dora?
"Swiper, no swiping!
Swiper, no swiping!
Oh man."
Danny Lightfoot has vanished
From 1989 to 1991, Nickelodeon aired five seasons of the live-action sitcom Hey Dude,
which showed the adventures of a group of telegenic teens working at a dude ranch.
When the cast reunited at the 2014 ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas, though, once cast
member was significantly absent.
Joe Torres , who played Danny Lightfoot, was missing, literally.
Neither his former castmates nor event organizers were able to locate Torres, as nobody seems
to have any idea what happened to him.
While one rumor suggests he passed away, another unsubstantiated rumor claims he is working
at a Toyota dealership in New Jersey.
All That wasn't all that
All That was like Saturday Night Live for kids: sketch comedy that produced a ton of
talent, including future SNL cast members Kenan Thompson and Taran Killam.
But early cast member Angelique Bates revealed in an interview with The Shade Room that her
time on All That from 1994-1996 was anything but fun.
She alleged that while on the show, her mother subjected her to physical, mental, and emotional
abuse, on set, in full view of producers and colleagues, who not only didn't help her,
but encouraged her to stay quiet.
"Sometimes they could even hear me yelling, but nothing was done to help me."
iFell
iCarly is a series that's part sitcom, about a bunch of kids who make a web series, and
part fantasy, because it's about a web series that people actually watch.
You wouldn't think iCarly would involve high-risk stunt work, but apparently it did, because
in 2014, stuntwoman Katina Waters sued Nickelodeon.
She alleged that she suffered multiple leg fractures and torn ligaments during a stunt
where she was dropped from the ceiling, much like another infamous incident when Gibby's
stunt double allegedly broke several ribs.
That's iGnarly.
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