TOXIC TV
Hands-on Nickelodeon boss who made child stars Ariana Grande and Jamie Lynn Spears act like porn stars exposed in doc
IT was the kids’ TV network that gave us child stars Ariana Grande and Jamie Lynn Spears – but behind the scenes Nickelodeon was a cesspit of emotional and sexual exploitation.
Shock new documentary series Quiet On Set: The Dark Truth Of Kids TV, which is streaming on Discovery+, lifts the lid on how a culture of fear emerged under its main writer and producer Dan Schneider.
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The US channel’s cast of starlets, aged nine to 15, had to take part in sexualised scenes in hit shows such as Noughties sitcoms Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and iCarly.
Alexa Nikolas, now 31, rose to fame in boarding school series Zoey 101 alongside Britney Spears’ younger sister Jamie Lynn.
But recalling the sexual innuendo on set, she says: “One of the most disturbing memories I have is an episode with Jamie where I can’t open a tube of squeezable candy.
“My character just can’t get it open, and when I eventually do it ends up all over Jamie’s face — like, the prop person came on set with a syringe, and it landed on her face and eyes.
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“Dan was roaring with laughter and everyone on set was kind of giggling.
"I heard the boys whispering but had no idea what it meant at that age.
“Once I saw it again as an adult, I knew it wasn’t funny — and it still isn’t funny to me — but I remember feeling hyper-aware around Dan, not wanting to say anything that would jeopardise my job.
“It was toxic.”
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Former Nickelodeon stars, as well as camera crew and scriptwriters, have now come forward to talk in the four-part documentary for the first time about their experiences behind the scenes.
‘Twisted jokes’
It follows Dan’s rise to fame, from a minor role in Eighties US high-school sitcom Head Of The Class, as computer hacker Dennis Blunden, to a top comedy writer with his own production firm Schneider’s Bakery, then all-powerful producer.
But despite his bubbly personality, and gift for children’s TV comedy, he allegedly failed to protect starlets in the high-stress, high-profit and often unregulated world of TV.
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Archive Nickelodeon footage sees Jamie Lynn, now 32, in short skirts making innuendo-packed jokes as she plays boarding school girl Zoey.
Singer Ariana, now 30, is seen in performing arts school sitcom Victorious, which ran from 2010 until 2013, as dim blogger Cat Valentine.
She is often at the centre of inappropriate comedy — including placing her feet in her mouth and pouring water over her body.
In iCarly, starring Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy as pals Carly and Sam, close-ups on sexual props and body parts, including kids’ tongues, were normalised.
Cameraman Mike Dent tells the docuseries: “A kids’ show should be a kids’ show, but sometimes there were props which were like, ‘Oh, that’s a sexual innuendo’. It went too far but nobody was saying anything.”
Scaachi Koul, a Canadian writer on culture issues, says to camera: “Dan was the creator for Nickelodeon, but this gave him a whole new level of power — economic and emotional power over these kids — and he threw that around.
“With that, there are all types of on-screen set-ups that reference porn in his shows, like squirting something on to a 14-year-old’s face, or Ariana pouring water over herself in a sexual manner.
“He pushed the boundaries of sexualising young girls, with scenes packed with sexual innuendo.
“But of course, who is sexual innuendo for in a kids’ TV show?”
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Dan’s team say they were subjected to his twisted practical jokes, including having to massage him on set and mime sexual acts — which he denied.
And for many years his team included just two women, who claim they were forced, illegally, to share one salary.
Writer Christy Stratton worked with Dan on his first Nickelodeon hit, comedy sketch series The Amanda Show, which ran from 1999 until 2002 and featured child host Amanda Bynes.
The most uncomfortable thing was having to watch your castmates be essentially tortured
Bryan Hearne
But co-writer Jenny Kilgen claims of Dan’s behaviour during one writing session: “He once asked Christy to bend over the desk.
“It was the most wrong thing I’ve ever seen happen to a woman in a work environment, ever, but he was scary as hell and I didn’t feel comfortable complaining.
“He would show us pornography on his screen, and I did things that were uncomfortable, like he would ask me to massage him in his office.”
Christy claims: “Working for Dan was like being in an abusive relationship.
“He was very playful and being dirty was part of the silliness.
“His pranks and jokes at first seemed fun but when we didn’t do what he asked, he would turn on us, and we were all paranoid about that.
“We felt that the axe could drop at any moment.”
Christy and Jenny both later left the show and sued Dan for misconduct and gender discrimination in the workplace.
But Schneider — who insisted he had no control over their salaries — was found not guilty and allowed to continue to work.
It meant little change behind the scenes and, if anything, it is claimed, enabled Dan’s behaviour to get worse.
I would just say to myself, ‘This is what I have to do to stay on the show’. It was important to be on Dan’s good side and he made it known who wasn’t.
Leon Frierson
He even boasted in a TV interview at the time about his “frightening” amount of power on set.
Meanwhile, Amanda Bynes, after ten years of acting fame, went off the rails and stepped away from the limelight — never addressing her relationship with Dan, who it is claimed was often seen “touching and hugging” the young actress.
Others among Dan’s young stars allege they were “tortured” with I’m A Celebrity-style dares, such as being covered with worms and eating full jars of mayonnaise.
Bryan Hearne, now 35, was tasked with gross jobs on comedy sketch show All That, which ran from 1994 until 2020, for a segment called On Air Dare.
He said: “I didn’t like doing it, and it was like the awkward fantasies of some freaky dude.
“We were essentially tortured.
“You had to do scary things on camera — one time I had to be submerged in peanut butter then dogs came in and I’m lying on the ground and they licked it off my body.
“But the most uncomfortable thing was having to watch your castmates be essentially tortured.
“It was this dark underbelly of the show.”
His former All That co-star Leon Frierson, 37, says: “There was another side to Dan, that was very uneasy.
“In those moments I felt uncomfortable.
"I would just say to myself, ‘This is what I have to do to stay on the show’.
“It was important to be on Dan’s good side and he made it known who wasn’t.”
It was this mentality, and the trust Dan cultivated with his young stars’ parents, that many now feel allowed things at Nickelodeon to take an even darker turn.
Drake Bell slams former Nickelodeon stars for laughing and making 'gross' comments about abuse allegations in TikTok video
‘Hush money”
Two of All That’s workers were fired and found guilty in 2004 of child porn.
One of them was show chaperone Jason Handy, who looked after kids on set.
He had 10,000 pornographic images hidden at his home — and “trophies” from girls he had groomed, such as intimate items of clothing.
He was sentenced to six years in prison.
The second person was dialogue coach Brian Peck, one of Dan’s right-hand men, who abused Nickelodeon star Drake Bell, now 37, behind the scenes.
Drake — who was one half of comedy duo Drake & Josh, with Josh Peck — recalls: “I was 15, and I was sleeping on his couch.
“I woke up and he was assaulting me.
“But I was trapped — there was no way out, I couldn’t say anything.
"It just got worse and worse, it got brutal, it was the worst stuff you can think of when you think of what someone can do in a sexual assault — and I look back, and I wonder how I survived.
“The whole thing was this mental manipulation — that if I said any-thing I was never going to work again.
“I didn’t want to risk that so kept it inside, and I was so torn up, so broken and so emotionally distressed.”
Peck was sentenced to 16 months — but while Drake admits Dan stepped in to protect him from the fallout, it would not be enough to reverse damage allegedly suffered by his now former stars.
Facing my past behaviours, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret, I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology — I’m really sorry it happened.
Dan Schneider
In 2017, in the wake of the Me Too movement, Dan was subject to an internal investigation at work for alleged misconduct after former co-workers made claims about angry outbursts and female stars being put in inappropriate situations.
After the probe found evidence of verbal abuse by Dan — though not sexual misconduct — Nickelodeon swiftly cut ties with him but paid him a reported £5.6million to go quickly and quietly.
Later, former iCarly star Jennette McCurdy, now 31, also claimed she was offered hush money over her exploited childhood and adolescence, and accused Dan of “ruling over everyone like a fiefdom”.
But last week he said in a YouTube video: “It was wrong I ever put anyone in [the positions that I did], I would never do it today, it wouldn’t happen today.
"Facing my past behaviours, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret, I definitely owe some people a pretty strong apology — I’m really sorry it happened.”
But he added: “If anybody had said, ‘Hey, we don’t like that, that’s not appropriate, it would have been cut out.
“I had no indication any kid ever had a problem [with what they were being asked to do].”
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Nickelodeon said: “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviours from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints.
“Our priorities are the wellbeing and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but all children.”
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