Drake Bell was recently a guest on Josh Peck’s Good Guys podcast. The former Nickelodeon co-stars discussed Bell’s experience at the network, which he opened up about in last year’s docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.
Drake Bell, Josh Peck Discuss Nickelodeon Experience on Podcast
Quiet on Set was the first time Bell publicly discussed his allegations of child sexual abuse against Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck (no relation to Josh), who was arrested in 2003 and charged with “lewd acts with a child.”
“When we shot the pilot [for Drake & Josh], we were in the middle of the investigation, but nobody had known anything, because Brian hadn’t been arrested,” Bell explained, adding that the abuse had taken place on the set of The Amanda Show, which was supposed to be his “safe place” with friends.
Between production of the two shows, Bell said he experienced “mental breaks” during the investigation. This affected his and Peck’s relationship, as Peck shared that he thought Bell didn’t “want much to do with me.” Bell said he was worried about how the situation might impact their show.
“When this drops, is Josh going to look at me and be like, ‘Bro, you took our dream away?’ … Like, are we going to lose our show?” Bell recalled. “Dude, I was losing my hair. Like, I had these giant scabs on my head.”
Josh Peck said he “had a feeling something happened” after Brian Peck disappeared from the set. He asked Bell one day, “Do you still talk to Brian?” to which Bell replied, “No, Brian’s a really bad guy.” Peck said that was “all that I needed to know.”
“In watching the documentary at 38, as a father, as a grown-up, so much was revealed to me of what you had to go through,” Peck said of how he learned about what Bell experienced at Nickelodeon. “I can’t even imagine that.”
Bell has been the subject of his own controversies in recent years, as he was sentenced to two years probation in 2021 for attempted child endangerment after being accused of grooming an underage fan. Previously, Bell was arrested for DUI in 2015 and was accused of abuse by his ex-girlfriend in 2020.
Bell shares a son with his ex-wife Janet Von Schmeling, whom he married in 2018. The pair separated in 2022, and Von Schmeling filed for divorce in 2023.
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Jill O'Rourke Jill O’Rourke is a contributor at Talent Recap, writing news stories and recaps for shows like ‘AGT,’ ‘The Voice,’ and ‘American Idol.’ She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and Film Studies, and has been writing about pop culture since 2012, with previous bylines at Crushable and A Plus. Jill spends her free time binge-watching sitcoms and daydreaming about life as a hobbit
