History YMMV / DoubleDare1986

** Even ''worse'' than "The Sundae Slide" in the first season or two was a variant entitled the "Fireman's Flag-Pull", where once you climbed up the chocolate covered ramp you ''then'' had to pull in a clothesline to retrieve the flag before sliding down a fireman's pole to pass it off. At least one contestant forgot to pull in the flag and had to repeat the obstacle. Made particularly egregious on a Halloween episode where there were Trick-or-Treat bags on the clothesline with the flag hidden in one of them (naturally, the last one). It was used on 17 episodes, and on the last four, it was changed to have the flag hung on the pole. It only made things worse, as there were people who would slide down the pole and ''FORGOT'' to get the flag. The course was only one twice with "Fireman's Flag-Pull". That should tell you how bad it was.

** Even ''worse'' than "The Sundae Slide" in the first season or two was a variant entitled the "Fireman's Flag-Pull", where once you climbed up the chocolate covered ramp you ''then'' had to pull in a clothesline to retrieve the flag before sliding down a fireman's pole to pass it off. At least one contestant forgot to pull in the flag and had to repeat the obstacle. Made particularly egregious on a Halloween episode where there were Trick-or-Treat bags on the clothesline with the flag hidden in one of them (naturally, the last one).

* HarsherInHindsight: Marc Summers hosted this show and he has freakin' OCD no one knew at the time. Now everyone between 18- 32 knows.
** Specifically, he had a {{Monk}}-level obsession with neatness at home. He's been public about his battle with the illness in the hope of helping others, but it makes one wonder how he could've possible withstood hosting a show like this.

* IronWoobie: Knowing Marc went through all he did with OCD is amazing. And that's not counting that in 2012 he broke his face in a car accident.
** Although repeatedly being asked about the above two topics in interviews or on Twitter has turned into sort of a BerserkButton, as he insists that neither is nearly as significant or sensational as people have made it out to be.

** "Blue Plate Special", "Garbage Truck", "Squelch'M Waffles"-- pretty much any obstacle where the team member had to find the flag hidden in gunge.

*** In ''Super Sloppy Double Dare,'' upwards of ''twenty'' balloons were used for "Inside Out" instead of three or four. Then, for ''Family Double Dare,'' the number of balloons decreased slightly but ''wrong flags'' were hidden inside several of them.

** Many obstacle course runs in the early years were derailed by the original version of "The Sundae Slide", which required contestants to climb up a 45 degree incline covered with grease and slime before going down the eponymous slide. If they did not make a point of only putting their feet on the padding under the rails on either side of the incline (which had no grease on it), they could waste 15 or 20 seconds just trying to get to the top of the slide. Though arguably one of the most popular obstacles with young audiences, it proved the difference between getting all eight flags and getting only seven (or fewer) so frequently that one could be forgiven for suspecting that it was deliberately engineered to prevent the obstacle course from being won too often (Summers often made jokes about the program's limited budget in the early years, and this included the prizes). It got to a point where in the final season, the incline was replaced by a regular ladder; the incline returned for ''2000''.
*** This was made even ''worse'' in the first season or two when they had a variant of the Sundae Slide entitled the "Fireman's Flag-Pull", where once you climbed up the chocolate covered ramp you ''then'' had to pull in a clothesline to retrieve the flag before sliding down a fireman's pole to pass it off. At least one contestant forgot to pull in the flag and had to repeat the obstacle. Made particularly egregious on a Halloween episode where there were Trick-or-Treat bags on the clothesline with the flag hidden in one of them (naturally, the last one).

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Some of Edd Kalehoff's most recognizeable work can be found here. Taken UpToEleven on the FOX version with ''countless'' remixes of the ThemeTune and in-game music (and not just the ones that were kept after this version ended).

* [[ThatOneLevel That One Obstacle]]: "Blue Plate Special", "Garbage Truck", "Squelch'M Waffles"-- pretty much any obstacle where the team member had to find the flag hidden in gunge.
** Also, any time a fourth tunnel was added to "Sushi" or "Dallas".

** On one episode of the ''Family'' version, it took the whole family, Marc, and a few crew members to find the flag hidden in "The Garbage Truck". They eventually did, and just before the announcer rattled off where the show was taped, too!

*** ''2000'' brought us an updated version of "Hunt and Peck" called "Double Click", replacing a giant typewriter with a computer. Here, the contestant stomps on all the keys until the flag shows up on the screen complete with "You've got flag!" message. This didn't always work right due to the contacts on the keys being electronic rather than mechanical as in "Hunt and Peck".
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The ''Family'' and ''2000'' versions, with many unnecessary rule changes.
** The most obvious was in ''2000'': The "Triple Dare Challenge". During the second round, the host said that "any one of the physical challenges could become a Triple Dare". The PC was more or less guaranteed to occur as, at some point, a question that the producers HAD to know that no normal person could know the answer to, causing the players to eventually reach the physical challenge. Problem was the challenge itself that they brought up. Many of these took way too long to describe what they were supposed to do because it involved too many steps and were generally too complicated. This challenge would probably be the only challenge, so the Triple Dare challenge was put in play that, if the contestant took it, would make an already complicated challenge harder, but offer a more elaborate prize. It didn't help that the host wasn't half as good as Marc Summers was, and he stumbled a lot trying to explain rules that left players somewhat lost. This is probably what killed the revival: the second round usually didn't have more than four questions, while the one PC could take up to 4 minutes to describe, then 1 to describe what the TDC is, 30 seconds for the actual challenge itself, and maybe 10 for the family to decide if they want to go for it or not.

** Even worse than those? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gORCdY11-yg This 1987 question with an obvious joke answer...]] that '''gets picked'''.

** In fact, WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, when covering the show, even gave him a made up medal he called the "Dude, you've got balls" Award.

** Even worse than those? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o1pEY2M7ms This 1987 question with an obvious joke answer...]] that '''gets picked'''.

*** "Pick It", where the flag was hard enough to find inside the nose. Later on in the run, green nose gak was added inside making the obstacle even harder. Then, someone on ''Double Dare 2000'' had this bright idea to make Pick It ''sneeze green slime on the contestants while they were trying to find the flag!''

* [[ThatOneLevel That One Obstacle]]: "Blue Plate Special", "Garbage Truck", "Squelch'M Waffles-- pretty much any obstacle where the team member had to find the flag hidden in gunge.

*** Pick It, where the flag was hard enough to find inside the nose. Later on in the run, green nose gak was added inside making the obstacle even harder. Then, someone on ''Double Dare 2000'' had this bright idea to make Pick It ''sneeze green slime on the contestants while they were trying to find the flag!''

* IronWoobie: Knowing Marc went through all he did with OCD is amazing. And that's not counting that in 2012 he broke his face in a car accident.

* [[ThatOneLevel That One Obstacle]]: "Squelch'm Waffles", "Garbage Truck", "Pick-It"-- pretty much any obstacle where the team member had to find the flag hidden in gunge.

** Cranked right on up to PlatformHell whenever the producers decided to put upwards of ''twenty'' balloons at "Inside Out" instead of three or four, with ''wrong flags'' hidden inside several of them.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Very rarely did a team use the "I Dare you to answer it because I don't think you know it" strategy.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Some of Edd Kalehoff's most recognizeable work can be found here. Taken UpToEleven on the FOX version with ''countless'' remixes of the ThemeTune and in-game music (and not just the ones that were kept after this version ended).
* CueIrony / FunnyAneurysmMoment: It was revealed years after the show was over that Summers suffered from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). That's right, the host of one of the gungiest shows on TV was a ''massive'' neat freak; a documentary on the show and him showed him doing things such as lining up all the fringe on a throw rug. Fortunately, he got over it and has gone on to be a successful TV show host, producer, and author. He's one of the more prolific producers at Food Network and its affiliates.
** This also made him a major BadAss among fans, as he ''still'' showed up for work and you'd never know. Guy's got balls.
* GrowingTheBeard: The show started to look and feel much more polished with the FOX ''Family'' version. Updates to the ThemeTune, a noticeable increase in the amount of [[CoveredInGunge messy challenges]], an increase in the budget for that version only (exotic trip for Obstacle 6, cash from $2,000-$5,000 for #7, and a Car for #8), and some visual elements carried over into subsequent versions of the show.

* HilariousInHindsight: One of the angles for early commercials for the original ''Double Dare'' focused on the fact that the game was for kids rather than adults, and tended to show a man in a jacket and tie making a fool of himself trying to go through such obstacles as "The Sundae Slide" or "Icy Trike" to emphasize this. Then ''Family Double Dare'' came along... although the adults still looked quite ridiculous going through the obstacles, it was now part of the show's appeal.

* [[ThatOneLevel That One Obstacle]]: "Squelch'm Waffles", "Garbage Truck", "Pick-It"-- pretty much any obstacle where the team member had to find the flag hidden in gunge.
** Also, any time a fourth tunnel was added to "Sushi" or "Dallas".
** Cranked right on up to PlatformHell whenever the producers decided to put upwards of ''twenty'' balloons at "Inside Out" instead of three or four, with ''wrong flags'' hidden inside several of them.
** Many obstacle course runs in the early years were derailed by the original version of "The Sundae Slide", which required contestants to climb up a 45 degree incline covered with grease and slime before going down the eponymous slide. If they did not make a point of only putting their feet on the padding under the rails on either side of the incline (which had no grease on it), they could waste 15 or 20 seconds just trying to get to the top of the slide. Though arguably one of the most popular obstacles with young audiences, it proved the difference between getting all eight flags and getting only seven (or fewer) so frequently that one could be forgiven for suspecting that it was deliberately engineered to prevent the obstacle course from being won too often (Summers often made jokes about the program's limited budget in the early years, and this included the prizes). It got to a point where in the final season, the incline was replaced by a regular ladder; the incline returned for ''2000''.
*** This was made even ''worse'' in the first season or two when they had a variant of the Sundae Slide entitled the "Fireman's Flag-Pull", where once you climbed up the chocolate covered ramp you ''then'' had to pull in a clothesline to retrieve the flag before sliding down a fireman's pole to pass it off. At least one contestant forgot to pull in the flag and had to repeat the obstacle. Made particularly egregious on a Halloween episode where there were Trick-or-Treat bags on the clothesline with the flag hidden in one of them (naturally, the last one).
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The ''Family'' and ''2000'' versions, with many unnecessary rule changes.

* WhatAnIdiot: On two separate episodes, both from 1989, neither team could guess the answer to "How many arms did Babe Ruth have?" and "How many ankles did Michael J. Fox have?". Hilariously, the question "How many arms does the drummer from MotleyCrue have?" was answered incorrectly with "One", the one-armed Rick Allen being a member of DefLeppard.
** When a team did not know [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4rH_3VYl9g how many ears Kirk Cameron has]] Marc had to check with the judges to make sure they were allowed to dare.
** Even worse than those? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o1pEY2M7ms This 1987 question with an obvious joke answer...]] that '''gets picked'''.

** ...I'm shocked that the PB&J Sandwich wasn't mentioned yet.

* WhatAnIdiot: On two separate episodes, both from 1989, neither team could guess the answer to "How many arms did Babe Ruth have?" and "How many ankles did Michael J. Fox have?".

* CueIrony / FunnyAneurysmMoment: It was revealed years after the show was over that Summers suffered from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). That's right, the host of one of the gungiest shows on TV was a ''massive'' neat freak; a documentary on the show and him showed him doing things such as lining up all the fringe on a throw rug. Fortunately, [[IGotBetter he got better]] and has gone on to be a successful TV show host, producer, and author. He's one of the more prolific producers at Food Network and its affiliates.

* ThatOneLevel: "Squelch'm Waffles", "Garbage Truck", "Pick-It"-- pretty much any obstacle where the team member had to find the flag hidden in gunge.

** Many obstacle course runs in the early years were derailed by the original version of "The Sundae Slide", which required contestants to climb up a 45 degree incline covered with grease and slime before going down the eponymous slide. If they did not make a point of only putting their feet on the padding under the rails on either side of the incline (which had no grease on it), they could waste 15 or 20 seconds just trying to get to the top of the slide. Though arguably one of the most popular obstacles with young audiences, it proved the difference between getting all eight flags and getting only seven (or fewer) so frequently that one could be forgiven for suspecting that it was deliberately engineered to prevent the obstacle course from being won too often (Summers often made jokes about the program's limited budget in the early years, and this included the prizes). It got to a point where in the final season, the incline was replaced by a regular ladder; the incline retuned for ''2000''.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The ''Family'' and ''2000'' versions, with many unnecessary rule changes. [[YourMileageMayVary Mileage varies]] on the ''Family'' version, though.

* EpicFail: On the first taped episode (''not'' the first one aired), the first item in the Obstacle Course (find a flag hidden inside a pillow) was missing said flag. On the second take, the flag was ''still'' missing due to miscommunication. The flag was present on the third take, but a cameraman ended up getting right in the contestants' way immediately afterward, necessitating a ''fourth'' take.
** The fourth take went into the episode as aired, while the first three takes (with slate, showing the recording date as September 18, 1986) were put into the direct-to-video release ''Double Dare: The Inside Slop''.
** Oh, and by the way -- the name of that very first obstacle, which gave the show so much trouble? '''Nightmare'''.

* ReplacementScrappy: Jason Harris and Tiffany Phelps, the host/announcer tandem on ''2000''.

* HilariousInHindsight: One of the angles for early commercials for the original ''Double Dare'' focused on the fact that the game was for kids rather than adults, and tended to show a man in a jacket and tie making a fool of himself trying to go through such obstacles as "The Sundae Slide" or "Icy Trike" to emphasize this. Then ''Family Double Dare'' came along... although the adults still looked quite ridiculous going through the obstacles, it was now part of the show's appeal.

** Many obstacle course runs in the early years were derailed by the original version of "The Sundae Slide", which required contestants to climb up a 45 degree incline covered with grease and slime before going down the eponymous slide. If they did not make a point of only putting their feet on the padding under the rails on either side of the incline (which had no grease on it), they could waste 15 or 20 seconds just trying to get to the top of the slide. Though arguably one of the most popular obstacles with young audiences, it proved the difference between getting all eight flags and getting only seven (or fewer) so frequently that one could be forgiven for suspecting that it was deliberately engineered to prevent the obstacle course from being won too often (Summers often made jokes about the program's limited budget in the early years, and this included the prizes).

* DethroningMomentOfSuck: On the first taped episode (''not'' the first one aired), the first item in the Obstacle Course (find a flag hidden inside a pillow) was missing said flag. On the second take, the flag was ''still'' missing due to miscommunication. The flag was present on the third take, but a cameraman ended up getting right in the contestants' way immediately afterward, necessitating a ''fourth'' take.