'Child Labor' Claims Rock Nickelodeon as Former Child Star Drake Bell Exposes Network's Dirty Little Secret
Drake Bell revealed 'most' Nickelodeon child stars do not receive residual earnings.
July 21 2025, Published 4:45 p.m. ET
Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell has exposed the network's "evil" and "corrupt" practices, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Bell starred as Drake Parker on the hit show Drake & Josh for four seasons from 2004 to 2007. Despite the show's popularity and resurgence on streaming platforms, Bell said he worries about how he's going to pay his rent.
The ex-child star shared his financial struggles as he revealed "most" actors who worked at Nickelodeon do not receive residual paychecks.
No Residuals
Bell opened up on the 'flawed' system designed to protect child stars' wages.
During a recent appearance on The Unplanned podcast, Bell slammed his former network and how his show's popularity has fueled misconceptions about his net worth
Bell said: "It's like, you know, 'Oh, you made a Folgers Coffee commercial. You must live in a mansion in Hollywood. Like, I saw you on TV. You're rich.'
"That’s far from the case. And especially, which is the bummer for most of us on Nickelodeon, we don’t get residuals for our shows."
'Evil, Corrupt People'
Bell said 'a lot of evil, corrupt people' get rich off of child stars' work.
The 39-year-old went on to explain the "flawed" system with TV shows, syndication and residual pay.
He said: "You want to get to 100 episodes so that you can get to syndication, and then you want to get into syndication because then you get your residual money, that's where you make your money.
"For example, the Friends cast at the peak was making a million dollars an episode. You make 13 episodes that year, you make $13million. You make 20 episodes that year, you make $20million, right? But right now, each cast member of Friends, just in syndication alone, is making over $20million a year, and they're not filming a show every week.
"They're not going to work, but they're playing their show and they're using their likeness and they're doing all this, so they get paid for it."
Financial Struggles
Bell said he worries about paying rent despite his former show being on Netflix's top 10 list.
Drake & Josh fell far short of the 100-episode goal at 54 episodes across four seasons to get syndicated.
When asked if the reason "most" Nickelodeon stars did not receive residuals was because they were child actors, Bell quipped: "It's a lot of evil, corrupt people. That's the only thing, that is the answer. There's no other answer."
Meanwhile, Netflix has picked up the show, and several other networks have run marathons of the show with major sponsors.
Still, Bell claimed he's yet to receive a residual check.
"Do everything that they do to us mentally and emotionally, and then throw us to the wolves, he raged. "And we're like, okay, cool. I got rent this month.
"There are three channels doing Drake & Josh marathons. Netflix just bought it, it's top 10 on Netflix, and I gotta figure out how to pay my rent this month."
Bell added, while he's worrying about paying his rent, there's "some fat cat with a cigar is just sitting up at the top of Viacom just … getting high on child labor."
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Abuse at Nickelodeon
The actor previously opened up about suffering sexual abuse while working at Nickelodeon in 'Quiet on Set.'
The Nickelodeon alum's latest remarks about the network come after the bombshell documentary series Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, in which Bell broke his silence on being sexually abused by Nickelodeon dialogue coach and manager Brian Peck.
Bell worked with Peck on The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh.
In 2003, Peck was arrested on 11 charges, including sodomy, lewd act upon a child 14 or 15 by a person 10 years older and oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance.
He was sentenced to 16 months behind bars and was required to register as a sex offender.
