Portable Planet

Adam Sandler, Dakota Fanning, Beyonc, Queen Latifah, SpongeBob SquarePants, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, American Idol and Harry Potter are among those who nabbed coveted orange Blimps at Nickelodeon’s 20th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards, in a live telecast featuring the hottest stars of TV, movies, music and sports, Saturday, March 31 (8-9:50 p.m. ET/tape delay PT). Kids reigned and slime blanketed this year’s star-studded, anything goes kudos/mess-fest at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, hosted for the first time by Justin Timberlake, who also clinched Favorite Singer. Unrelenting, super-sized slime-bursts made the day sublime, breaking the slime barrier and soaking stars and hundreds of kids — at the biggest, loudest, messiest spectacle in the show’s history. To absorb all the fun, Nick treated kids to 20 magical minutes more.

Topping last year’s record by over 13 million votes, more than 40 million kids cast votes March 5-31 in 16 categories to honor their favorites. And for the first time, voters could choose to use any of Nickelodeon’s digital platforms including Nick.com, Nicktropolis and TurboNick or to text in their votes via cell phones.

Tally yielded Favorite Movie Actor for Adam Sandler (Click), who won that honor in 2003 and 2005 as well as a Wannabe Award in 2004; and Favorite Movie Actress for Dakota Fanning (Charlotte’s Web). Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest seized treasured Favorite Movie award, while Happy Feet ran away with Favorite Animated Movie (Orlando Bloom and Nicole Kidman respectively accepted). Former Wannabe Award winner Queen Latifah (2005) clinched a Blimp as Favorite Voice in an Animated Movie (Ice Age: the Meltdown). SpongeBob SquarePants absorbed honors for the fifth consecutive year as Favorite Cartoon and also scored for Favorite Video Game (SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab). Top TV awards went to American Idol as Favorite Show and to last year’s winner Drake Bell (Drake & Josh) and to Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) as Favorite Actor and Actress. Shaquille O’Neal netted his fourth Blimp for Favorite Athlete (1995, 1997 & 2000). In music, host Justin Timberlake triumphed as Favorite Male Singer, while Beyonc nabbed Favorite Female Singer honors; her Irreplaceable won for Favorite Song and Black Eyed Peas got the nod for Favorite Group. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling notched Favorite Book honors.

An unprecedented triple-star slime-fest opened the show, with green goo thoroughly soaking Mandy Moore, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. Before long, kids and stars alike joyfully weathered slime showers throughout the telecast. Tobey Maguire got down and messy, and craving a sliming, host Timberlake and Steve Carell turned green with glee.

Absorbing the spirit of Nick for the show’s climactic barrier-breaking star sliming, Vince Vaughn also made history by reaping the rewards of the first-ever interactive sliming: Viewers voted on nick.com for a stunning, goo-gushing mode and sat back for the real-time spectacle.Their three choices: blowing out a section of the house with slime, hence dousing hundreds; having an elephant suck all the excess slime out of the house and blow it out his trunk; or activating a huge geyser under the stage. The latter won out and with it Vaughn joined a fraternity of venerated stars who have sloshed through KCA history including Jack Black, Robin Williams, Johnny Depp, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Tom Cruise, Jim Carrey, James Earl Jones, Rosie O’Donnell, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller.

Wowing the crowd and setting a world record with a never-before-attempted slimy feat, daredevil stuntman Ron Jones bungee jumped from a height of 225 feet and plunged into a bucket of Nickelodeon’s signature green slime 12-feet in diameter and five feet deep. Ryan Seacrest provided colorful commentary for this sixth World Record Slime Stunt.

In a show highlight, The Wannabe Award, an annual honor bestowed on a celebrity role model who kids most “want to be,” was presented to Ben Stiller by last year’s Kids’ Choice Awards host, Jack Black.

The sixth annual burp contest resounded with a terrific new twist, as Kenan Thompson announced that two-time Burp Award winner Timberlake had a worthy opponent: all the kids in the audience! And the kids pumped up the volume to an all-time high. Past proud Burp Award winners include Cameron Diaz, Jessica Alba and Steve Irwin (shared honor), Justin Timberlake (two-time winner) and Hugh Jackman.

The star-studded telecast featured celebrity participants including Will Ferrell, Nicole Kidman, Orlando Bloom, Dakota Fanning, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Steve Carell, Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, Bindi Irwin, Hilary Duff, Jessica Alba, Jamie Lynn Spears, George Lopez, Jon Heder, Chris Evans, Chris Tucker, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, Tobey Maguire, Jackie Chan, Mandy Moore, Drake Bell, Emma Roberts, Jesse McCartney, Nelly, Ciara, Shia LaBeouf, Hayden Panettiere, Ice Cube, Masi Oka, Ty Pennington, Tyler James Williams, Rihanna, Devon Werkheiser, Lil’ JJ, Nat Wolff, Alex Wolff, Chris Brown, Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants) and Ryan Sheckler.

Grammy Award-winning superstar Gwen Stefani ignited the kid crowd with the hit title song from her new album, “The Sweet Escape” also featuring popular singer-songwriter Akon. Grammy Award-winning rock-soul band Maroon 5 also rocked the house with their brand-new single “Makes Me Wonder” from their forthcoming album “It Won’t Be Soon before Long,” performing it for the first time live on TV.

TEENick’s J. Boogie and Victoria Justice (Zoey 101) kicked off the night with a unique star-studded two-hour pre-show telecast, Countdown to the Kids’ Choice Awards, featuring a musical performance by Drake Bell and Orange Carpet arrivals/interviews interlacing programming from 6 to 8 p.m. ET/PT. An episode of SpongeBob SquarePants capped the 9 p.m. hour at 9:50 p.m. The entire awards telecast will encore Sunday, April 1 at 1 p.m., and Kids Choice Awards: Best of the Mess, a 30-minute program of highlights, will air Tuesday, April 3 at 5 p.m.; Thursday, April 5 at 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 7 at 12 p.m. and Sunday, April 8 at 5:30 p.m. (all times are ET/PT). Kids can also catch a half-hour version of the awards show on TurboNick, Nickelodeon’s broadband video service on Nick.com, the week after the live event.

Following are Nickelodeon’s 20th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards winners:

MOVIES:
Favorite Movie
The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Favorite Female Movie Star
Dakota Fanning

Favorite Male Movie Star
Adam Sandler

Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
Queen Latifah/Ice Age: The Meltdown

Favorite Animated Movie
Happy Feet

MUSIC:
Favorite Music Group
Black Eyed Peas

Favorite Female Singer
Beyonc

Favorite Male Singer
Justin Timberlake

Favorite Song
Irreplaceable (Beyonc)

TELEVISION:
Favorite TV Show
American Idol

Favorite Television Actress
Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana

Favorite Television Actor
Drake Bell/Drake & Josh

Favorite Cartoon
SpongeBob SquarePants

SPORTS:
Favorite Athlete
Shaquille O’Neal

OTHER CATEGORIES:
Favorite Video Game
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab

Favorite Book
Harry Potter (series)

Source: Nickelodeon