Spoiler Warning: Spoilers for episode 5 of Quiet on Set follow. On April 7, ID Discovery’s hit docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV released its fifth episode and ya’ll, it was a lot.
The episode, titled “Breaking the Silence,” revisited some of the shocking allegations made by former child stars in the first four episodes. It even touched upon Dan Schneider’s apology video, with All That stars Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne sharing their feelings towards the Nickelodeon producer.
But one of the most shocking moments during the episode was when Samuels revealed that Schneider had reached out to her for a “quote of support” before the documentary aired. Excuse me, what?
In the episode, Samuels was interviewed by journalist Soledad O’Brien alongside Hearne. She revealed that Schneider reached out because he he had heard she was going to be featured in the documentary and assumed she had a good time working with him, especially since she returned to Nickelodeon to appear in a 2018 episode of Henry Danger. Her Campus reached out to Schneider’s team for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
“I got a phone call,” Samuels said in the doc. “He reached out a week before the documentary aired. He asked if I could give a quote of support.”
Though Schneider was looking for Samuels to back him up, she declined to help, noting that she didn’t have the best relationship with him. “I told him I was terrified of him. I said ‘You have the power to make people stars. And I was intimidated by you. I wanted to do a good job,’” she said.
Samuels and Hearne went on to discuss Schneider’s apology video, which was released on March 19 by The Hollywood Reporter.
“The thing about his apology as a whole, is, I thought it was funny,” Hearne said. He pointed out that Schneider was an actor before becoming a producer and called this video a performance. Hearne also questioned why Schneider didn’t apologize when iCarly’s Jeannette McCurdy released her book, I’m Glad My Mom Died.
Samuels added that Schneider did not even apologize when fellow All That star, Angelique Bates, spoke out about the abuse she faced on set.
Samuels and Hearne also spoke about their experience being the only Black actors during their time on All That.
In his apology video, Schneider said, “Diversity has always been very important to my shows,” but according to Samuels, the producer’s sets were lacking when it came to people of color.
“It was very evident from the first day that it was just the two of us,” Samuels said, referencing Hearne and herself. “That’s the first thing you do in a Black space or as a Black person or a person of color, you count who’s in the room in front and behind the camera. And there were two.”