600 Daring Kids Seek to Slip Into Limelight

‘You look for kids who have no hesitation about being goofy.’

Gooey mashed-potato food fights and romps through gobs of fudge and Jell-O leave millions of children stuck to their television screens each afternoon.

The same thing caused 600 youngsters in Chatsworth to stick it out in line for up to eight hours Monday.

They were auditioning to be on a cable TV children’s game show that sends contestants slipping and sliding through an obstacle course of raw eggs, mounds of whipped cream and vats of popcorn.

Kids view the daily Double Dare show as high comedy. Their parents see it as good, clean fun.

That’s why Denice Bates rose at 4:30 a.m. to drive daughter Ariana and playmate Anne Thiel, both 11, to the West Valley Cablevision office for the afternoon audition.

“We watch the show all the time and like it a lot,” said Ariana. “Especially the obstacle course part,” chimed in Anne.

They were first in line for tryouts, but slipped on a trivia question about elephants and missed their target during a marshmallow toss.

“When there’s lots of slop and goo, you look for kids who have no hesitation about being goofy,” said audition leader Carol Levitt, who helps produce Double Dare for the Nickelodeon cable television service.

Double Dare officials eventually declared Josh Rovner of Woodland Hills and David Rand of West Hills, both 11, the winners. The two teammates will be flown to Philadelphia to videotape their episode along with the winners of another audition today in Santa Monica.

Officials were surprised by the turnout. Although their year-old show is a hit in the East, it has only recently drawn a large West Coast audience.

Marc Summers, a former stand-up comedian who now dispenses pint-sized jokes about such things as skunk smells and the Muppets, lives in the West Valley. He was mobbed by youngsters Monday.

“I could see the difference right away when kids started watching the show out here,” Summers said. “I walked into Topanga Plaza during the summer and kids started recognizing me. It felt good.”

‘Trust the Show’

As a role model, the 30-ish father of two can’t buy a six-pack of beer or do anything else that might raise a young eyebrow. “The kids and their families trust the show,” he said.

Summers tries for an appearance just as clean during the food fights, not easy in a studio that has been described by People magazine as “a mammoth contraption that looks like a gymnasium designed by Betty Crocker.”

Some of his fans indicated Monday that they wouldn’t mind if Summers landed in some of the slime.

“He wears jeans and sneakers and a tie,” said Tammy Balderson, 11, of Stanton. “He should get rid of the tie.”