Marc Summers

Marc Summers (born Marc Berkowitz; November 11, 1951) is an American television personality, comedian, game show host, producer, and talk show host.

He is best known for hosting Double Dare for Nickelodeon, and Unwrapped for Food Network; he was the executive producer for both Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible also for Food Network.

Since 2023 he has hosted the podcast Marc Summers Unwraps.

He currently stars in a one-man show about his life titled The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers at New World Stages in Manhattan.

Summers was born Marc Berkowitz in Indianapolis, Indiana, to a Jewish family.

He attended Westlane Middle School and North Central High School in Indianapolis and Grahm Junior College in Boston.

After consulting with Rabbi Weitzman of Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation about whether to pursue a career as a rabbi or as an entertainer, Rabbi Weitzman told Summers, "As a rabbi, you can help a small congregation a lot, but as a performer you can help a lot of people a little."

Summers decided he preferred to help a lot of people, which set his path to becoming a performer.

He moved out to Los Angeles in 1972, taking a job as a page at CBS Television City.

There, he got to do a variety of tasks on different shows, including filling in as announcer on The Joker's Wild, assisting with the audience warm-up on The Carol Burnett Show and helping with production on The New Price is Right.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Summers appeared on television talk shows, including a stint on ABC television's Home Show.

Summers also had a rare dramatic performance in the Nickelodeon-produced Halloween program Mystery Magical Special, which also highlighted his skills as a stage magician.

Summers also made celebrity guest rounds on other game shows including Scrabble, Super Password, Talk About, Lingo, To Tell the Truth, Win, Lose or Draw, and Hollywood Squares.

In the beginning of his career he was a radio DJ and a stand-up comedian; although he held various television production jobs before a career boost in 1986, when he worked as the co-announcer with Gene Wood on ABC's short lived game show Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak.

Summers' work on Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak garnered the attention from Nickelodeon, which hired him as the host of Double Dare from 1986–1993.

According to Summers, a ventriloquist friend was called for an interview to Double Dare, but having never heard of Nickelodeon, sent Summers for the interview in his place.

Summers was the first to interview for the job and was hired as both the host and producer.

Double Dare was syndicated within two years and had a brief broadcast network run in prime time as Fox Family Double Dare in 1988.

In 1989, he auditioned to host the CBS daytime version of Wheel of Fortune; however, Bob Goen was hired instead.

Double Dare's popularity led Summers to other hosting jobs including the syndicated Couch Potatoes in 1989, and Nickelodeon's What Would You Do? in 1991.

During the 1990s, Summers continued work on television shows, each with varying success.

He created and hosted the short-lived children's game show Pick Your Brain, co-hosted Great Day America on the PAX Network, produced I Can't Believe You Said That, and hosted It's a Surprise on Food Network

After Double Dare's cancellation in 1993, Summers co-hosted Our Home, a daily talk show aimed at homemakers, on Lifetime.

Summers left Our Home after a couple of seasons to co-host another Lifetime talk show, Biggers & Summers.

In 1993, Summers hosted a special episode of Nova, called "The NOVA Quiz", celebrating the show's 20th anniversary season on PBS.

Contestants answered science questions and participated in science experiments, for a chance to go on a science expedition.

Summers made a memorable appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 17, 1994, where he sat next to Burt Reynolds.

The two traded jabs, before Reynolds dumped water from his mug onto Summers' lap; the two ended up pieing each other.

Regarding the experience, Summers later recalled: "Burt Reynolds was going through a bad divorce with Loni Anderson. This was not planned, it was all real. Jay called me afterward and asked, 'What's going on between you and Burt?' It was like survival of the fittest. I was a comic. You wait your entire life to get on the Tonight Show, I wasn't going to let this guy fuck it up for me."

Summers returned to Nickelodeon in 2000 as the executive consultant for Double Dare 2000, an updated version of his original show.

Two years later, he was the executive producer for another Nickelodeon resurrection, Wild and Crazy Kids.

GSN chose Summers to host its original program WinTuition in 2002.

In 2005, Summers became the host of Food Network's reality series The Next Food Network Star.

In late 2006, Sony Pictures Television and KingWorld planned a new game show called Combination Lock, with Summers hosting the first pilot.

On March 28, 2008, the Communication and Journalism Club of Coastal Carolina University presented Summers with the first annual Peach Cobbler Award, an honor modeled after Harvard's Hasty Pudding Award.

The Peach Cobbler Award recognizes an individual and their accomplishments in the communication field.

The Communication and Journalism Club also declared that same day as "Marc Summers Day".

After the ceremony, Summers hosted a mock version of Double Dare on the university's campus.

He returned to television as the host of more shows, including History IQ with his old announcer Harvey on the History Channel; the Food Network series Unwrapped; the Unwrapped spin-off game show, Trivia Unwrapped; and the Game Show Network series WinTuition.

Summers joined Chef Guy Fieri as co-host of Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown in 2008.