But back in the '80s, it must have seemed like a nightmare. In one of the very first episodes of Double Dare, Marc Summers simply could not stand the fact that children were not able to complete the final obstacle course within his acceptable timeframe, so he gave them a little extreme help. And by "help" I mean that he grabbed the kids by the arm and FORCED them to complete it, goddamn it.
Nickelodeon
"Alright, they've got 60 seconds, and if they don't finish, well ... Lord help them."
After the very first obstacle, in which the first kid is run through a steamroller, he grabs the boy's ass and hoists him up to the monkey bars, then grabs the girl by the elbow so forcefully that she falls on her face. In a telling moment, Summers says, "C'mon, get up" juuust slightly off-mic -- enough that you have to listen to hear it, but not enough to doubt that he barely stopped himself from adding the words "or you'll upset me." It's like his whole fucking career depends on these kids winning this thing. Note that in this version of the show, it was kids-only, so there weren't any dads around to say, "Um, what the hell are you doing?"
Nickelodeon
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