Superstars including Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Downey Jr., One Direction, Sam & Cat, Selena Gomez, Kevin Hart, Patrick Star, Dwight Howard and more, won top honors at this year’s ultimate kid experience, Nickelodeon’s 27th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards, Saturday, March 29, 8 – 9:30 p.m. (ET/tape delayed for West Coast). Hosted by Oscar® and Golden Globe®-nominated actor/producer Mark Wahlberg, the awards were broadcast from the Galen Center at USC in Los Angeles where kids honored their favorites from the worlds of film, music, sports, television, and more.
This year’s KCAs featured a new design – dual stages, a 360 degree mosh pit, a slime fountain delivering winner envelopes and a slime river snaking throughout the venue. Kicking off the star-studded celebration was internet sensation Todrick Hall with a pop performance medley featuring celeb cameos by Pharrell Williams, Austin Mahone and Cody Simpson, along with aerialists, cheerleaders and a step team. Celebrated magician David Blaine made his live awards show debut tonight by facing his greatest challenge ever – slime – in an unforgettable moment that literally knocked his head off.
New to this year’s telecast, kids and families were able to influence multiple slimings in the live show. In the pre-show vote for a daring slime stunt, they chose the Slime Rodeo, an attempt to harness the power of slime in a new way — by riding it. Hosted by Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, Dave England bested fellow daredevil, Jukka Hilden, by staying on his bucking slime-horse hose the longest. In a special live vote during the show, kids spoke up and declared both Cody Simpson and Austin Mahone slime-worthy.
Wahlberg maintained throughout the show that he would be an unslimeable host, a challenge that was put to the test against worthy opponents like Williams, Kaley Cuoco and Jack Reynor — all of whom got doused themselves in green goo. Ultimately, not even Optimus Prime could save Wahlberg from the massive drenching delivered by none other than Kevin Hart and the host’s own kids.
Kids’ TV hitmaker Dan Schneider received a special Lifetime Achievement Award presented to him by the stars of his mega-hit series iCarly (Nathan Kress, Noah Munck), Drake & Josh (Drake Bell, Josh Peck), Victorious (Victoria Justice, Avan Jogia, Daniella Monet, Leon Thomas III, Matt Bennett), Sam & Cat (Ariana Grande, Cameron Ocasio, Maree Cheatham, Zoran Korach), Kenan & Kel (Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell) and Zoey 101 (Chris Massey).
Top-selling recording artist Aloe Blacc took the stage with a medley of his hit songs, “Wake Me Up” and newest single “The Man,” while Brooklyn-based rock group American Authors closed the night with a multi-colored neon slime-filled performance of their #1 smash, “Best Day of My Life.”
Kids and families paid tribute to their favorites by casting votes in 22 categories, from Feb. 24 – March 29, including the newly introduced Favorite Funny Star, Favorite Animated Animal Sidekick, and Most Enthusiastic Athlete. Fans were able to vote for their favorites across all of Nickelodeon’s digital outlets: Nick.com desktops and mobile devices, as well as the Nick app on iOS, Kindle, and Android. Users were also able to vote on Nickelodeon’s Twitter feed using custom KCA hashtags.
Orange blimps were presented to Adam Sandler for Favorite Movie Actor; Jennifer Lawrence for Favorite Movie Actress and Favorite Female Buttkicker; The Hunger Games: Catching Fire for Favorite Movie and Frozen for Favorite Animated Movie. Robert Downey Jr. won top honors for Favorite Male Buttkicker and Miranda Cosgrove took home the blimp for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie for her role of Margo in Despicable Me 2. In the television categories, Favorite TV Show went to Sam & Cat; Favorite Reality Show to Wipeout; Favorite Cartoon to SpongeBob SquarePants; Favorite TV Actor to Ross Lynch and Favorite TV Actress to Ariana Grande. In music, orange blimps went to Selena Gomez for Favorite Female Singer; Justin Timberlake for Favorite Male Singer and One Direction nabbed Favorite Music Group and “Story of My Life” for Favorite Song. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series garnered Favorite Book; Despicable Me: Minion Rush won Favorite App Game; Just Dance 2014 won for Favorite Videogame; Kevin Hart nabbed the blimp for Favorite Funny Star; Patrick Star for Favorite Animated Animal Sidekick; and Dwight Howard took home the prize for Most Enthusiastic Athlete.
The star-studded telecast featured additional celebrity participants, including: Chris Rock, Robert Downey Jr., Jim Parsons, Jayma Mays, Kristen Bell, Chris Evans, Nicola Peltz, Shaun White, Tia Mowry-Hardrict, Selena Gomez, Queen Latifah, Michael Strahan, Carlos Pena Vega, Zendaya, Debby Ryan, Andy Samberg, America Ferrera, Sophia Grace and Rosie from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Will Arnett, Bella Thorne, Jake Short, Lea Michele, LL Cool J, James Maslow, Peta Murgatroyd, John Cena, The Bella Twins, Ross Lynch, Kendall Schmidt, cast members from The Haunted Hathaways, Instant Mom, The Thundermans, and many others.
