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Physical Challenges From Double Dare (1986-1994)
This is the New Physical challenges page!

 

We will be adding clips from youtube in the future!

Any Physical Challenges need adding to this list? Contact me!

(please be sure to provide me with the episode it can be found in, and if it is currently posted on youtube! thanks!)

An estimate of over 1500 Physical Challenges were played throughout Double Dare and its successors' seven seasons, and most of them were messy.

Early in the series a lot of the stunts performed were reminiscent of Beat The Clock, as they relied more upon skill. As Double Dare progressed (along with an increasing budget) the stunts' focus relied more upon props and mess. The overall change occurred when DD moved from Philadelphia to Orlando. No matter what time or place however, the physical challenges were the most important aspect of the show since they always decided who won the game.

What follows is a list of some of the more popular (and not-so-popular) stunts played on the show in a somewhat chronological order, with titles (either real or made-up) and a brief description.
KEY: D=difficult, V=variable difficulty level, E=easy; M=messy, NM=not messy, SM=somewhat messy; 15/20/30= usual time for stunt
STUNTS USED ON DOUBLE DARE
Example Video

Unlock the Door .........................................................D.....NM.....30

Objective: Open the two locks on the door.

Both contestants are given a ring of keys; one key from each ring would open one of the two locks. A classic example of a seemingly easy stunt turned into one of the hardest as practically no one was able to open both of the locks, let alone one of them.

Coming Soon!

Harvey's Wild Oats .......................................................D.....NM.....20

Objective: Move 3 cans of oats to the end of the stage using 1 hand.

Another early stunt with no mess at all, this one stumped many contestants. The difficulty laid in the passing of the 3-stacked containers to your partner. The challenge spoofs Quaker Oats, even caricaturing Quaker on the can with Harvey in costume.

Coming Soon!

Musical Eggs .........................................................D.....NM.....30

Objective: Catch an egg in the air with cymbals while blindfolded.

A stunt that reads very easy on paper while very difficult to perform. Marc tells the egg thrower to say "now" when the eggs reach the cymbals, but usually they'd never achieve perfect timing. Also, the contestants should've thrown more than one egg at a time... this one's not extremely egg-citing. Woody Fraser reused this stunt for the Family Challenge in '94.

Coming Soon!

Dunk the Ducks .................................................E.....NM .....20

Objective: Drown 10 rubber ducks in a pool of water for 3 seconds.

Won every time, this stunt was a total no-brainer. If it weren't for the contestant who actually submerged his entire body in the water, this stunt wouldn't be worth noting. In Super Sloppy DD, the water was changed to mud, and the contestants were advised to totally fall in, something no one ever did.

Coming Soon!

Babies, Bottles, and Bonnets .....................................V.....NM .....20

Objective: Fling baby food to knock over 5 bottles on a wooden plank.

This is one of the earliest stunts that required contestants to dress up. Granted, just a bonnet isn't much, but the idea eventually progressed to outlandish proportions. Sometimes the stunt was played with 30 seconds and all the bottles had to be knocked down.

Coming Soon!

Blind Food .........................................................V.....SM.....15

Objective: Find hidden objects in food while blindfolded.

Not very creative, nor were they very exciting, but they were very often used in the early days. Another problem was that it was designed primarily for one person. Examples: Chocolate in Jell-O, Teething Rings in Cereal, etc.

Coming Soon!

Pour it On .........................................................E.....SM .....15

Objective: Fill a cup past the line with liquid.

One contestant just sat down while the other one stood wearing a helmet with 2 opened tubes of water. Another ho-hum stunt, this one in fact was borrowed directly from Beat the Clock.

Coming Soon!

Water Basketball ..................................................E.....SM.....20

Objective: Throw 3 water balloons in the basket.

This stunt originated from an early DD contest - they asked viewers to send in ideas for physical challenges and the winners (whose stunts were played on the show) received a T-shirt. The props they used were dreadful. The backboard was placed on the wall panel and wasn't secured very well. Halfway through the stunt, the board came loose and almost landed on the contestant's head. Marc and Robin ended up holding the board up for the rest of the time. The stunt was never tried again until much later when they changed it to a toss-up.

Coming Soon!

Creamed Cup .......................................................V......M.....15

Objective: Fill a cup past the line with cream.

Definitely one of the more popular challenges of the 80's,Along with the seltzer bottles, the spray cans of whipped cream took a while for DD to figure out. In the beginning, they forgot to shake the bottle before handing it to the contestant making the stunt harder than it should've been. The stunt later required you to fill a smaller cup all the way to the top.

Pie in Your Pants ..................................................V......M.....30

Objective: Catapult 3 pies into your partner's huge pants.

Another wildly successful stunt, and one of the Physical Challenges that Double Dare was famous for.

When Double Dare was first started, the sound stage that was used to film on was so small that it's amazing that they made it work. This is why Pies In The Pants failed(1986-1987)

Once Nickelodeon Studios was built, this physical challenge was very successful. (1989-1992)

They then changed it to the launcher used for Dish Pan Hands. Very successful!

Coming Soon!

William Tell ........................................................D.....SM.....30

Objective: Knock the apple off your partner's head w/ a seltzer bottle.

This is my all-time least favorite physical challenge. They played this one, way too much, and I've only seen it accomplished one time. And when the player finally aimed the bottle correctly, the current of the water wasn't strong enough to knock the apple down.

This Physical Challenge was modified two more times (1990, 1992). The version used in 1990 was the most successful of the 3 used.

This version (as seen below) was so unsuccessful that it should have been retooled... a mystery that may never be solved!

Coming Soon!

Airmail .........................................................V.....NM.....20

Objective: Throw one paper airplane into a mailbox 8 feet away.

A VERY simple challenge... both of the contestants are able to simultaneously throw an airplane one at a time. Marc made a bet with Dave that this stunt would never be accomplished but he was proved wrong many times. Later in the first season to make the stunt harder, the contestants would have to make the airplanes themselves.

Coming Soon!

Rain on Your Parade ............................................V.....SM .....30

Objective: Fill a cup past the line while your partner plays instruments.

This is DD's "Ten Chances" of TPIR. How many times did you see the contestant with the cup move their head down, losing all the water? This happened all the time, and not just with Rain on Your Parade.

Barber of Seville ...................................................E.....SM.....20

Objective: Put an apron on; cream, shampoo and wash your partner.

Another cinchy challenge that was Notable for the usage of Double Dare's trademark "Green Slime Shampoo." The stunt was changed to increase difficulty by lengthening the distance between the contestants.

Pop Goes the Balloon ...........................................E.....SM.....15

Objective: Out of 10-15 balloons, find the one with chocolate.

One of DD's few stunts that was based solely on luck, this was also the simplest yet very successful attempt with gak filled balloons. This stunt also takes on the early years premise of only getting one player messy. The question of, "Wanna sit down there or go over there?" became a DD cliché. Sometimes the balloons in this stunt were transparent, leading to very quick and easy wins.

Egg Lincoln .........................................................V.....SM .....20

Objective: Catch 3 eggs in your open-ended top hat.

A classic example of how DD could get away with a tiny budget in the late 80's. Only props used were the eggs and a top hat with the top cut off. Although the stunt only involved throwing and catching, the end results were often exciting and funny. It was amazing to see how much egg yolk stuck on to the player's head when he/she removed the hat.

Tossed Salad (1987) ------->

Physical Challenges used after the 1987 season have moved here! The reason for this change is due to the fact that every time I tried to edit this page, Chrome would take 15 minutes to process all of the YouTube content on the page!

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