’90s Nickelodeon Game Show Hosts: Where Are They Now?

If you’ve switched on a game show in the past year, you might have noticed a serious departure from the traditional “We ask you trivia, you win money” format. No, these days we require our game show contestants to do a little more for that tantalizing grand prize. Fit through holes! Jump on slippery surfaces! Crawl across a Seussian obstacle course in freezing weather! Frankly, it all reminds us of our childhood. Before the major networks caught on to the appeal of high-contact, Japanese-style game shows, Nickelodeon already had an entire line-up of them. From Double Dare to Legends of the Hidden Temple to GUTS, the visceral delight of seeing mystery gunk being dumped on hapless contestants’ heads was a defining feature of 1990s kid television. Which got us thinking — where are our beloved Nick game show hosts now? We’ve tracked them down, after the jump.

Kirk Fogg, Legends of the Hidden Temple

Kirk Fogg earned a place in our television trivia-loving hearts as the Indiana Jones-knockoff host of Legends of the Hidden Temple, guarding the steps of knowledge from 1993 to 1995. After the show ended, Fogg left the hosting game and focusing on acting in national commercials. He also played the district attorney in the pilot episode of Veronica Mars. Most recently, Fogg wrote, directed, and starred in a short thriller, 2006′s Distortion. As Legends became a cult college hit of the mid-2000s, Fogg occasionally gave interviews reminiscing on the show, like this one with College Humor, in which he claims that, with regard to the temple guards, “There was only one disembowelment that I know of.”

Marc Summers, Double Dare

Marc Summers was the ever affable, ever slime-covered host of Nickelodeon’s Double Dare from its premiere in 1986 until its cancellation in 1993. He also hosted Nick’s short-lived What Would You Do? as well as making the rounds as a celebrity guest on game shows across networks in the early 1990s. After the demise of Double Dare, Summers continued his reign as go-to basic cable television personality, co-hosting a few Lifetime television shows and the children’s game show Pick Your Brain. During the late 1990s, Summers revealed that he had struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder for most of his life. He published a memoir, Everything in Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and began working with behavioral illness nonprofits to raise funds for kids with OCD. In the past several years, Summers has found a home on The Food Network as host of Unwrapped and The Next Food Network Star, as well as an executive producer for shows including Dinner: Impossible. But he can’t seem to let that game show host instinct go — he’s also working on the Game Show Network’s WinTuition.

Summer Sanders, Figure It Out

By the time Summer Sanders landed the host gig on Figure It Out, she had already had several careers under her belt. Sanders started out as a gold medalist for swimming in the 1992 Olympics and then went on to do sports commentary for NBC.  She was the first female Nick game show host when she came to the network in 1997, and led the wise-cracking panel of Figure It Out through four slime-filled seasons until its cancellation in 2000. Since then, Sanders has continued her sports reporting beat, checking in on basketball for NBC and tennis for the USA network. She also worked as a correspondent for Good Morning America and The Rachael Ray Show before landing her own sports commentary program in 2009, Inside Out with Summer Sanders. And, oh yeah, she was also on the last season of The Celebrity Apprentice.

Mike O’Malley, Nickelodeon’s GUTS/Get the Picture

You probably recognize Mike O’Malley better today than you did as the host of GUTS and Get the Picture. Yes, our smack-talking, kid-encouraging Mike has gone far since his days as the face of Nickelodeon’s most physically rigorous game show. After leaving Nickelodeon in 1999, O’Malley starred in the CBS comedy Yes, Dear, became the spokesman for Time Warner Cable, and landed the part of Burt Hummel, Kurt’s macho-yet-endearing dad on Glee. He’s also a recurring character on NBC’s Parenthood and an accomplished playwright. All that as a result of narrating the events of the Extreme Arena!

Omar Gooding, Wild and Crazy Kids

Gooding, the son of singer Cuba Gooding and the brother of Cuba Gooding, Jr., clearly has showbiz in the genes. He co-hosted Wild and Crazy Kids with Donnie Jeffcoat and Jessica Gaynes. On the show, Gooding was the one who egged the kids on, presiding over pie-throwings and bumper car races. After the show ended in 1992, Gooding  appeared on Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper and Playmakers, as well as the films Baby Boy and Ghost Dad. Despite getting in trouble with the law for unlawful gun possession in 1995, Gooding continued to nab parts in TV shows — he was Odell in the final season of Deadwood and Calvin Palmer, Jr. in Showtime’s Barbershop: The Series. Most recently, Gooding took at starring role in the CBS drama Miami Medical.

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[...] ’90s Nickelodeon Game Show Hosts: Where Are They Now? [...]

Nickelodeon has announced a remake of Figure It Out to premiere in June 2012. Jeff Sutphen the host of Nick's Brainsurge will host. Which means Summer Sanders will more than likely not return for the new series. And from I saw Billy the answer head will also be returning. And the celebrity panel will feature stars of current Nick shows including iCarly, Victorious, Big Time Rush, etc. And I always wondered what happened to Kirk Fogg after "Legends".

Man,what ever happened to that cuite pie Jessica? She should have tried her hand @ acting. I guess maybe she got tired of being in the spotlight. It would have been okay to try it as long as she did'nt let it go to her head. However,she did the smart thing by staying in school,which is most important. I would imagine today Jessica has a husband and two kids.

Marc Summers and Harvey reunited on History IQ on the History Channel from 2000-01. The show continued on in Saturday morning reruns from 2001-09, when the channel finally dropped it. Wintuition was on a long time ago.

Ooooh, that's some old information on Marc Summers. WinTuition got cancelled most of a decade ago....

apparently i stopped watching in the 80's as i only know MArc Summers. I'm more of a "Finders Keepers" guy

What ever happend to the other co-hosts of "Wild and Crazy Kids" Annette Chavez, Jessica Gaynes (who replaced Annette), and Donnie Jeffcoat?

Yeah, what happened to Mo? Even as a kid, I knew she was shagadelic, baby! And were there ever any romances from the boy/girl teams put together for Legends?

Mark Summers has produced a ton of shows on Food Network? Who DIDN'T know that?

How is Ghost Dad worth a mention for Omar Gooding but not Smart Guy? Also, I totally can't sit through an episode of Glee with Kurt's dad in it without waiting for them all to suddenly have to fight to the top of the Crag.

Mike I knew about. But what about my favorite Brit ref, Mo?

HOLY SHIT MIKE O'MALLY IS ON GLEE I AM GOING TO DIE FROM AWESOME

I didn't know Omar was related to Cuba Gooding, Jr.!

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