1986: Kid’s Messiest Game Show Premieres

Next to Ellen’s Game of Games, America’s next messiest game show has got to be Double Dare which aired for the first time on this day in 1986. For years, Double Dare was a Nickelodeon staple. It was the network’s first game show and also the longest-running. Right after the show premiered, it had tripled its viewership and became the most-watched original daily program on cable TV. Hosted by Marc Summers, the original series continued through February 6, 1993. For a brief time, there was a Family Double Dare show that aired on FOX from April 3 to July 23, 1988. The show was revived as Double Dare 2000 and was hosted by Jason Harris from January 22 to November 10, 2000. Then in April of 2012, Nickelodeon Suites Resort in Orlando, Florida announced that the show would be revived again, but as a nightly stage show called Double Dare Live and ran at the hotel until it was re-branded as a Holiday Inn Resort in 2016. A Double Dare Reunion Special aired on Nick at Nite on November 23, 2016 and in July of this year Summers stated that yet another new version of the show could be brought back to the small screen once again. (Image: Nickelodeon)