‘All That’ alums say they were ‘extremely close’ with sex offender Brian Peck as kids, thought it was ‘normal’
Brian Peck wasn’t just a dialogue coach to child actors on Nickelodeon’s “All That” in the late ’90s and 2000s.
Show stars Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne, who both joined the sketch-comedy production as preteens during its seventh season in 2002, actually considered Peck, then age 42, a friend.
“We were extremely close,” Samuels, now 38, and Hearne, 35, told The Post in unison.
“We would run lines with him all the time. He signed my ‘All That’ yearbook,” said Samuels of Peck — who often appeared on camera as goofy stage-crasher “Pickle Boy,” awkwardly toting a tray of pickles.
“We were invited to his house for parties and things,” Samuels continued.
“We were all under this naive cloak of, ‘We’re a family, we all hang out,’” she added. “‘This is normal. This is common that an adult would want to be friends with a child.“
But Peck’s abject chumminess with the tweens was apparently anything but normal.
“I was sleeping on the couch and I woke up to him sexually assaulting me,” says “Drake & Josh” star Drake Bell, 37, in ID Channel’s forthcoming exposé, “Quiet on the Set.”
The four-part documentary, debuting Sunday and Monday, unveils the sexual, emotional and mental abuse Nick stars and staffers of the early aughts allegedly endured while working on productions mostly helmed by Dan Schneider, 58.
In a statement to The Post, Nickelodeon said: “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct.”
“Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children,“ added the spokesperson. “We have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”
Schneider, once revered as the network’s “golden boy,” served as the mastermind behind hit sitcoms such as “All That,” “Drake & Josh,” “iCarly,” “Sam & Cat,” “Zoey 101” and “Victorious.”
But after nearly two decades of kid-television success, the screenwriter was dropped from Nickelodeon in March 2018 amid claims he created a “toxic” work environment on sets.
Neither Schneider nor Peck responded to The Post’s individual requests for comments.
In the doc, Bell, who’s publicly disclosing the details of the molestation for the first time, reveals the “extensive” and “brutal” abuse he sustained at the hands of Peck.
“I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react,” Bell recalls. “I have no idea how to get out of the situation. I was 15 at the time.”
He initially became an on-set student of Peck’s after being cast on “The Amanda Show,” a brainchild of Schneider’s starring Amanda Bynes, in 2000.
Owing to their shared interest in old Hollywood history, Peck‘s relationship with the teen quickly escalated from buddy-buddy to alarming, says Bell’s dad and former manager, Joe.
“I started seeing Brian hanging around Drake too much … it didn’t sit well with me,” says the concerned father in the doc. “He’d put his arm around his waist, put his hand up on his shoulder and run it down his arm.”
“This would happen routinely. It was just always uncomfortable.”
Bell says Peck ultimately “eviscerated” his relationship with Joe, leaving him — a then vulnerable adolescent — prey to the tutor’s perversions.
“Think of the worst stuff that somebody could do to somebody as a sexual assault, and that’ll answer your question,” says Bell when asked to describe the repeat offenses.
“It was not a one time thing,” he adds. “It just became this secret that I had held onto.”
“I didn’t know how to process it and that lead to a lot of self-destruction and self-loathing,” Bell admits. “I would try and escape with alcohol abuse, substance abuse. Anything to escape really.”
After suffering in silence for months, Bell finally exposed Peck as his abuser in 2003.
In the doc, the “Yours, Mine & Ours” star notes that Schneider was totally unaware of Peck’s wrongdoings against him until his arrest. Bell even acknowledges Schneider as being “the only” Hollywood exec who was there for him during the legal fallout that ensued.
Following a court case in October 2004, during which Bell’s identity was protected under the “John Doe” pseudonym, Peck pleaded no contest to two charges of child sexual abuse.
A total of 41 A-listers, including James Marsden, Alan Thicke, Joanna Kearns and “Boy Meets World” stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle, allegedly issued written pleas to the presiding judge, requesting Peck receive probation rather than jail time.
Kearns has since recanted her support of Peck, per the doc. Strong and Friedle have, too, recently expressing remorse for standing with Peck on a podcast.
Representatives for Nickelodeon tell The Post, “Now that Drake Bell has disclosed his identity as the plaintiff in the 2004 case, we are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward.”
Peck was ultimately handed a 16-month sentence behind bars, and was ordered to register as a sex offender.
Jason Handy, an ex-production assistant on Schneider’s shows, was also arrested for committing lewd acts with children under 14 after sending nude photos of himself to a teen extra on “The Amanda Show,” and kissing a 9-year-old girl who starred on “Cousin Skeeter.”
Hearne and Samuels tell The Post that recently learning Bell was Peck’s victim brought them both to tears.
“We cried,” said the twosome.
“It was absolutely devastating,” Samuels continued. “That [Bell was] going through all of that and then [had] to go back to work the next day. I felt for him so hard.”
The Nick alums count themselves lucky to have narrowly escaped a similar fate — although Hearne recalls an inappropriate encounter with Peck that sent his mother, Tracey Brown, spiraling.
“We took a picture, [and Peck] bit me on the head and called me his little chocolate drop,” said the “Hardball” star. “My mom was completely weirded out and said something. She was very vocal.”
Hearne was ultimately fired after only one season of “All That.” But he believes his mom’s fierce protection shielded him from uncomfortable situations with both Peck and Schneider.
“There wasn’t a lot of conversation between him and me,” Hearne said of his relationship with Schneider. “There wasn’t a closeness. He was uncomfortable being his weird self around me [and] I felt good about that.
“I didn’t want to be close to him.”
Those who were slightly closer to Schneider, like ex-“All That” trouper Kyle Sullivan, says the show creator often pushed the limits of inappropriateness to the extreme in scripts.
“The show was full of these uncomfortable sketches,” Sullivan says in the doc. “I feel like Dan got a kick out of walking a line with that.”
Former “The Amanda Show” writer Christy Stratton says, “Working for Dan was like being in an abusive relationship.”
In the doc, and ex-colleague Jenny Kilgen claim Schneider forced them to participate in degrading antics like screaming “I’m a slut,” or pretending to be victims of sodomy in the writer’s room.
Others claim Schneider’s sexually suggestive directives in scripts — which included toe sucking, face squirting and crude breast jokes — along with his allegedly “volatile” mood swings, made the workplace traumatizing.
In a statement to documentary producers, Schneider says, “Everything that happened on the shows I ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults.”
“Every day, on every set, they were always parents and caregivers and their friends watching us rehearse and film,” he added.
But Hearne and Samuels, who are both parents to separate broods, are encouraging moms and dads to be overly protective of their tots in the world of kiddie entertainment.
“Parents, be present … don’t get caught up in the glitter [of Hollywood],” urged Samuels.
“If you have that gut feeling — say something,” she continued.
“You’re going to protect your kid in the long run and that’s what you need to do.”
“Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” premieres as a four-part series over two nights on ID Network. The first part will air Sunday, March 17 at 9 p.m. ET, followed by the second part on Monday, March 18, at 9 p.m. ET.
