1. What was life like for you and your family before making your appearance on Double Dare 2000?
Before Double Dare, personally, I was one of the shyest people you could ever meet. I'm an honors student, so a lot of my time is spent doing homework. As such, I didn't really have a social life. I'm still a very cautious person, but after being on national TV, you become somewhat of a celebrity among those who find out. It's a great conversation starter. "Yeah, I was on Double Dare when I was a kid!" As such, I believe I've slowly "come out of my shell" and become a little more personable. From a family perspective, our family was really close before Double Dare. We all got along really well. Double Dare only brought us closer together. Competing as a family is not only brings you closer together, but it’s also extremely fun!

2. How did you get to tryout for Double Dare 2000?
Our family takes a yearly trip down to Orlando, FL. We visit the parks, Disney, Universal, Sea World, etc. My dad saw in the Orlando newspaper that Nickelodeon was hosting tryouts for Double Dare that week. It was a complete fluke. We were in the right place at the right time.

3. When you got the notification that you'd be on the show, what was your reaction?
I don't know the exact time we got notified for the show, because my parents made it a surprise. On Christmas Day we all opened our presents and had a grand old time. But then all of a sudden my dad pulls out of his pocket this "top secret envelope". "WHAT'S INSIDE DAD!?!?! WHAT'S INSIDE?!" With complete dramatics, he informed us that we were picked to be on Double Dare 2000! I got everything I ever wanted that Christmas in terms of presents, but this was the absolute topper. It truly was the best Christmas present a kid could ever receive.

4. What was Jason Harris like?
Jason Harris is a very nice guy. We didn't get to talk to him much off camera, but he seemed like a very personable guy. I'm sure he loved doing Double Dare, since he seemed to be very enthusiastic during the taping.

5. I used to have your episode until it was taped over, and you reminded me of the fun your episode was filled with. You said on your final vid that $850 is the second highest total accumulated in Double Dare 2000, do you know what the overall highest was?
The highest score during the Q&A round of Double Dare 2000 is $875. We are the second highest with $850.

6. According to your score, you beat your opponents $850 to $50. Did you get to speak to any of them, or at least have feelings towards their loss?
First let me note that $850 to $50 is the largest margin of victory ever on Double Dare 2000. That being said, I really do feel bad for the other team. They had so many of their friends and family in the audience, and all we had was our sister who was too young to compete on the show. We didn't get to talk to them after the taping, so unfortunately we couldn't express our feelings. They really are a smart bunch, but we just did well on the physical challenges. They didn't really get to answer any questions at all. Funny note, we had a "practice question" before the show. "What was the name of the large super-continent back when everything was one landmass?" I didn't know the answer back then because I was too young, and neither did my parents. They dared us to answer it, we double dared back, and they instantly provided "Pangaea" as the correct answer for 4 times the money. Too bad it doesn't count huh?

7. I saw your mom shaking her head about the Triple Dare Challenge box, and with your success, I think you could've gone for it (I think I know what was in the box). How come you didn't go for it?
I wanted to go for the Triple Dare Challenge. We were so far ahead. However, if we did end up losing, our opponents would easily take control of the questions and beat us. That was my mom's reasoning, and like my dad said, "If I want to go home tonight, I'm going to say no because my wife's saying no!" Just for the record, they never told us what was in the box so it will remain a mystery forever. My guess is that it was an extra meatball, so we needed 4 meatballs to win. (Which we would have easily done with 10 seconds left.) The only other guess I have is blindfolding my father, or possibly a reduction in the time limit. In all cases, I think we still would have done it.

8. I know the obstacle course was tough, albeit your mom did the hamster wheel first thing. Do you still have any of the prizes you won over the course of the final 60 seconds of that course?
The obstacle course is very tough. You do know that we can choose the order to some extent right? If you do obstacle 1, you must do obstacle 5. 2 does 6, and so on. Originally, I was supposed to do the wheel, but when we tested it, I couldn't even make it budge at all. We assumed my mom could do it, but that was a bad assumption. She's not a very strong person because she's so light. We should have made her test it, but we were afraid she couldn't lift the PB&J sandwich (which you can't test for obvious reasons). So it goes. If my dad did it in half the time, it might have been close. My brother just missed getting the flag out of the nose, as you can see him pull it out after the buzzer. (His hands were on it before the buzzer went off, but he couldn't pull it out in time. They really wedge it up in there.) That leaves about 6 or so seconds for me to get the last one. It would have been close. But then keep in mind my mom had to do the PB&J sandwich, which somehow my dad found the flag in a nanosecond. I still don't see how he saw it even after watching it multiple times on tape. You just don't know. The order might have done it...
For the prizes, we still use the walkie talkies extensively when we go to the parks. Probably less so now because we all have cell phones, but still they work well. We traded the drum set for a keyboard, which my sister still uses today. (She takes piano lessons.) The $300 in Papa John's pizza is all used up. I already had an N64 and the 4 games that came with it. (BTW, the ones they show on the show are not the games you get. I can't remember exactly which games they were, but I already had all 4 and the N64.) We sold it to my best friend for cheap. We used the mountain bikes for a while, but they don't work anymore because we never got them repaired. And of course, the $600 in Toys 'R Us money is all gone. Finally, we used the $850 in cash to offset the cost of the plane tickets to fly down to Florida for the taping. Funny huh?

9. How can you compare Double Dare 2000 to the original with Marc Summers?
Personally, the original Double Dare is simply amazing. Jason Harris is a really nice guy who does well as a host, but no one is better than Marc Summers in my opinion. It's just his character that does so well on a game show like that. In addition, some of the physical challenges on Double Dare 2000 are a real rip off. (Have you ever seen the slot machine one? That's extremely cheap!) The ones on the original show were fair and really tested your ability. The ones on Double Dare 2000 are either way to easy (the ones we got thankfully!) or way too hard. There are a couple of good ones in the mix, but that's mostly my thoughts. Still, 2000 was a very nice way to revive the show. I’m glad they did it. (Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten on TV!)

10. Were you also a fan of Nickelodeon shows before going on Double Dare 2000? If so, what shows (including the Nick game shows at Nickelodeon Studios) were you into watching, an did you ever want to try out for any of them?
I was a HUGE Nickelodeon fan! I came home every day from school and watched it whenever I could. I loved all the Nick game shows. Nick Arcade, Legends of the Hidden Temple, GUTS, You're On!, Figure it Out, but my absolute hands down favorite was.... yep! Double Dare! I also enjoyed the cartoons, but not as much as the game shows. My favorites were Doug, Rugrats, Ahhh! Real Monsters, Salute Your Shorts, and Rocket Power. As a kid, my absolute dream was to be on Double Dare. It was my favorite show. Period. It looked like so much fun! Getting messy and all that jazz. I would ask my dad to come up with a trivia question of the day so that I would be good at answering questions similar to the show. I never would have known that one day I would be on Double Dare 2000. It really was a dream come true.

11. Did you ever get to speak to the staff off-camera?
Besides the people who we talked to in the "Green Room", we didn't really get to talk to a lot of the staff. (The Green Room is where you hang out before the taping... we were there for 4 hours by the way. They had a lot of tapings to do that day.) The staff was really nice. Just telling us to have fun and enjoy yourselves. Don't worry about the camera, there's no need to get nervous. However, outside the staff, we ran into one of the nicest girls I have ever met. Amanda Bynes! She was doing a taping of Double Dare 2000 for charity. It was the cast of the Amanda Bynes show vs the cast of 100 Deeds for Eddy McDowd. We chatted, took pictures, everything! Although it was a short meeting, I did get to see what she's like in person. Seriously, you think being a star and all that she could possibly be a little snotty, but no! She's just a normal person like anyone else. She loves what she does and really has a lot of fun making her show. I wonder what she does today.... I haven't really looked.

12. In the future, do you think you want to be on another game show? Or, have any of your family already been on another one?
Looking through your profile, I see that you really enjoy game shows. That and Mario Party 2, a great game by the way. I am one of the biggest game show fanatics you could meet. I love watching people take huge risks and winning lots of dough! (I also am a huge Super Mario fanatic, but that's another story altogether.) As such, I would love to be on another game show. Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is my absolute favorite right now. It's so suspenseful when people get into the higher tier questions. I tried out for the show recently, but did not pass the test unfortunately. I plan to tryout again real soon. I also love the Price is Right. Drew Carey does well on the show, but no one can replace the awesomeness that is Bob Barker. Still, I would like to appear on that too. I also really liked Duel, and feel that I would do really well on that show. It's right up my alley with the mix of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? with aspects of poker in there. I sent in an application online, but I have no idea if they read it or not. I'm also quite fond of Chuck Woolery, and trying out for Lingo with my mom would be tons of fun. Finally, since our family is so competitive, being on Family Feud would be quite an experience. It would be a nice step up after Double Dare to see if "The Steele Trap" is really one of the best teams out there. It's a possibility. Course, I personally dislike Family Feud now. Richard Karn was a great host, but I really hate John O'Hurley. That show has really gone downhill lately.

13. For trying out for shows, what would you recommend to those who are trying out for today's game shows?
For those of you who want to be on a game show, here's some pieces of advice I picked up:

1. Be persistent. If you try out and don't pass the test or interview, DON'T GIVE UP! Try again. Persistence will pay off. This is the absolute biggest piece of advice I can give you. Never give up. Go for it! Even if it takes like 20+ auditions, keep trying!
2. Before going in, you must "know your show". Tryout for a game show you personally think you would love to be on and would have fun being on it. It will help you should you get an interview since it's much easier when you're enthusiastic about something rather than trying to "fake" enthusiasm. Plus, knowing the rules of the show is really helpful. ;P
3. If you do get an interview, be yourself. It's just like interviewing for a job. Don't lie, don't make stuff up, but just simply be yourself. That being said, I also would like to say be yourself, but "bigger". That means don't sell yourself short. It's O.K. to brag and show your feelings about something. That's what they look for. Personality, true enthusiasm, excitement, and someone who likes to have fun. Everyone has interesting aspects about them. Be sure to reveal them so that you can be viewed as a likable person.

Chris was located at YouTube, as he is user mariomaster777, being that he is a Nintendo fan, especially for Super Mario. His entire episode posting is what led me to ask him for the interview. He is surprised to know I was the webmaster as he is a frequent oncomer to the site. Despite his DD2000 appearance was taken down thanks to Viacom, You may view his YouTube profile by clicking HERE

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