Former “Zoey 101” star Alexa Nikolas has continued to speak out against her former boss and show creator Dan Schneider, having accused him of allegedly paying children on set for photos of their feet. Alexa made the revelation during her appearance on Christy Carlson Romano’s podcast “Vulnerable,” where she detailed her experience of allegedly having witnessed the rather creepy things Dan was said to have done.
“He had a digital camera and he would go around with money and ask to take photos of the kids’ feet – their toes,” she asserted, before going on to say that while she found his behavior somewhat strange, she was still a child so she didn’t make sense of it at the time. Alexa stated that while her mother was vehemently against the idea of letting her daughter have her feet photographed, other parents seemed rather open to the request.
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“I remember my mom going ‘Don’t go over there.’ My mom actually said ‘no’ to it, but I saw other parents allowing their kids to do it.” The 30-year-old says that things were just as creepy during wardrobe fittings when she would get changed; Dan would allegedly be waiting right outside, as she recalled the chair which he sat in creaking whenever she was changing her outfit. “I thought ‘Oh, that’s so weird.’ I don’t remember any other creators in every single wardrobe fitting.”
Alexa was believed to have been fired from the Nickelodeon show following a supposed argument with the show’s lead star Jamie Lynn Spears, though the actress herself claims she decided to leave due to the toxic work environment she experienced on “Zoey 101.” While the feud is said to have contributed to the reason for her departure, Alexa admits to having had several run-ins with Dan which may have also played a factor in her character not returning.
Alexa Nikolas reveals she was banned from Kids Choice Awards after asking to be released from her “Zoey 101” contract due to the toxic environment. pic.twitter.com/KVr6GBFE6k
— Buzzing Pop (@BuzzingPop) November 9, 2022
During her time on the show, however, there were also said to have been moments where she was told to wear “very, very short skirts” with biker shorts underneath. It should be noted that Alexa was around 12 years old during this time, so to be told to wear short skirts was already a red flag to her mother, but she wasn’t the only one wearing somewhat inappropriate clothes.
“That’s how short the skirts were on Dan Schneider’s shows, where we were having to wear biker shorts underneath that had to be cut.” Over the summer, Alexa told TMZ she felt as if Nickelodeon did not protect her from the rather traumatizing experience she had working at the show as she protested outside of the firm’s headquarters in Burbank, California, demanding that Nickelodeon takes accountability for what some of its former stars have had to endure.