Featured image credit: Nickelodeon
Slime on kids TV shows has been a staple part of television for as long as I can remember. Admittedly I'm only 24 but still, my little cousins love it so I think it's safe to assume slime is here to stay.
While shows like Get Your Own Back helped establish slime-covered adults as essential comedy for 2-7 year olds up and down the UK, it was actually Nickelodeon over in the US who started the slime movement.
Between 1979 and 1990, Canadian-made sketch show You Can't Do That On Television made the iconic green sludge what it is today.
But what the fuck was that stuff made out of?
As it turns out, Nickelodeon's world famous green slime actually has a very interesting past.
A You Can't Do That On Television crew member called Bill Buchanan revealed many years ago that a sketch once called for 'kinda disgusting slimy green stuff'. There were no further details however and so propmaster Paul Copping was asked to make something slimy.
He mixed up a massive bin full of shit essentially and then put green latex paint in for the colouring. It was left in the bin for so long that by the time the show came about, it looked and smelled awful.
Apparently the show's producers still wanted to use the slime in the bin on actors in the sketch but Copping had to object because he had no idea whether what was in the bin would be harmful to whoever it was going to soak.
The sketch got pulled and new slime had to be made.
The second batch of slime was made from Jell-O that was set in the fridge and then left out a day before to liquefy before mixing with flour. While this was entirely safe to use, it was extremely time consuming in preparation and so a third batch had to be made.
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Credit: Nickelodeon
The third batch was just Quaker Oats Crème of Wheat stirred up backstage with green food colouring added. However, the problem with that was the fact the oats dried and actors found they were stuck with the stuff in their hair if they didn't wash it off fast enough.
And so a fourth batch was made which was still Quaker Oats Crème of Wheat with green food colouring but they added baby shampoo to the mix. But that didn't actually help that much.
Eventually, the green slime was perfected and soon became a mix of vanilla pudding, apple sauce, oatmeal and green food colouring, according to Double Dare host Marc Summers.
And that ladies and gentlemen, is what the world famous Nickelodeon green slime is made of.
Life changing information.
Words by George Pavlou
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