Back in the 90s, Nickelodeon was the place to be for kids TV. One of the most entertaining series had to be panel game show Figure It Out, which featured panelists trying to suss out the secret skills of contestants. With kids as the contestants and familiar Nickelodeon faces as panelists, Figure It Out would have been plenty of fun… even without the trademark slime that was dumped on the panelists. As is true of everything in the history of ever, slime just makes everything better. Host Summer Sanders came clean about the surprisingly delicious secret behind the slime: that iconic green goo was made out of vanilla pudding and food dye.
Yeah, that's right, it was edible, which is apparently why people would eat it from time to time, including Danny Tamberelli:
But that’s why Danny [Tamberelli] would eat it all the time, because it was just vanilla pudding.
Thanks to Summer Sander's interview with MTV, it’s certainly good to know that Danny Tamberelli – known for his appearance in beloved hockey film Mighty Ducks and as the younger Pete in Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete and Pete--had a good reason for slurping up the slime. Being up for anything is a solid quality to have in showbiz, but Tamberelli was such a frequent figure on Figure It Out that it would almost be sad if he was frequently slimed with anything less delectable. Check out his enthusiastic – and open-mouthed - response to a sliming!
Of course, Sanders also revealed that there was a decidedly non-delectable side to being slimed that had even the most frequently slimed panelists shuddering.
The slime was really cold. They kept it refrigerated, because it was vanilla pudding and green food coloring. So half the reaction from the panelists was the fact they were getting slimed, but the other half was that it was so freezing that it just shocked you.
Because of the sticky stuff, Figure It Out is an unforgettable show. It’s hard to imagine a world in which “slime” cannot be used as a verb referring to dropping punitive buckets of goo onto the heads of children. The only real downside for the now-grownup fans is there is always a sense of disappointment deep down when a wrong answer on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? or Jeopardy has never once resulted in anybody being slimed. Alex Trebek is clearly no Summer Sanders.
The slime being made of vanilla pudding and green food coloring is a fun bit of trivia, and the easy recipe certainly makes potential Figure It Out revivals happening in homes even more accessible. Plus, now we know that Danny Tamberelli didn’t drop out of the spotlight due to a slime poisoning cover-up. That would have been an entirely different sort of interview with Summer Sanders, and certainly less tasty.
