The Quiet On Set directors have denied Marc Summer’s claims that they “ambushed” him during his interview for the series.
Investigation Discovery’s latest docuseries Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Children’s TV focuses on the ugly underbelly that was festering in the late 1990s to early 2000s at Nickelodeon Studios.
The four — soon to be five — part series featured interviews from former child stars, crew members, parents, etc. who all talked about their experience working at the studio during this time.
While most of the interviewees were happy to finally share their story, one featured member, Double Dare host Marc Summers, has revealed that he was allegedly lied about the series’ true intentions by directors Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz.
“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,” Summers explained during an interview with Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, “But they did a bait and switch on me. 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?’”
After Summers was told that the docuseries would focus partly on the misconduct brought against showrunner Dan Schneider and Drake Bell’s assault by Brian Peck, he immediately walked out of the interview.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“I got a phone call about six weeks ago saying you’re totally out of the show. And I went, ‘Great.’ Then they called me about four weeks ago and said, ‘Well, you’re in it, but you’re only in the first part of it because you talked about the positive stuff of Nickelodeon,’” Summers said, which explained his cameo at the beginning of Episode 1.
He continued stating, “What they didn’t tell me — and they lied to me about — was the fact that they put in that other thing where they had the camera on me when they ambushed me. And so, now we get into a whole situation about who’s unethical.”
Summer also expressed his frustration at being asked to be a part of the series at all as Double Dare ended before Schneider took over. He explained that he “never met the man” and “no idea about any of those things.
But, as Quiet on Set did still keep the few minutes of the interview in the series, it “made it seem like [Summers] knew those people.”
However, both Robertson and Schwartz have denied Summers’ allegations of withholding their intentions as they told Deadline, “We are clear with each participant about the nature of our projects.”
