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. Early career 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 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. This garnered the attention of Nickelodeon, who hired him as the host of Double Dare. 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. The show's popularity led to other hosting jobs including the syndicated Couch Potatoes in 1989, and Nickelodeon's What Would You Do? in 1991. GSN chose him to host its original program WinTuition in 2002. He also had a rare dramatic performance in the Nickelodeon-produced Halloween program Mystery Magical Special, which also highlighted his skills as a stage magician.