‘Figure It Out’ Turns 25: Where Are the Hosts & Panelists Now?

Summer Sanders hosting Figure It Out on Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon/Courtesy: Everett Collection

If the name “Billy the Answer Head” means anything to you, then perhaps you were watching Nickelodeon on July 7, 1997, when the long-running game show Figure It Out debuted.

In the original version of the show, celebrity panelists would have to deduce a kid contestant’s secret talent or claim to fame, with the answer hidden on the head-shaped game board dubbed Billy. (Of course, if the panelists committed the “Secret Slime Action” faux pax, they’d be drenched in the neon-green ooze that flowed so freely on ’90s-era Nickelodeon!)

Figure It Out set

Nickelodeon/Courtesy: Everett Collection

Olympic swimmer Summer Sanders hosted the 1997 version of Figure It Out, with Nick faves Lori Beth Denberg, Danny Tamberelli, Kevin Kopelow, Christy Knowings, and Amanda Bynes regularly holding court on the panel. And when Nickelodeon revived the show in 2012, Jeff Sutphen emceed the updated Figure It Out, with Ciara Bravo and Matt Bennett frequently serving as panelists. Now that we’ve reached Figure It Out’s 25th anniversary, keep reading to uncover updates on all nine of those stars.

Summer Sanders
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Summer Sanders

Sanders, who hosted the 1997–99 iteration of the show after becoming an Olympic swimming champion in 1992, is now a co-host of CBS Sports Network’s We Need to Talk, the first all-women sports show.

Jeff Sutphen
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Jeff Sutphen

Sutphen, who hosted the 2012–13 version of Figure It Out after hosting ABC’s 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show, has recently been working as an executive producer on the YouTube series Ryan’s Mystery Playdate.

Lori Beth Denberg
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Lori Beth Denberg

Denberg returned to her All That roots after Nickelodeon revived the sketch-comedy show, appearing in four episodes of the new All That between 2019 and 2020. These days, she’s the host of the podcast Bad Advice with Lori Beth Denberg and a professional wedding officiant.

Danny Tamberelli
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Danny Tamberelli

Tamberelli, another All That alum, reunited with Denberg on screen in the 2018 drama film Ham on Rye. And he and Michael Maronna, his costar from Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete, host a podcast titled The Adventures of Danny and Mike.

Kevin Kopelow
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Kevin Kopelow

Kopelow and writing partner Heath Seifert are the creators of the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally and the Nickelodeon series Cousins for Life. Their latest Nickelodeon comedy, Warped!, debuted on Nick last January.

Christy Knowings
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Christy Knowings

Knowings last acted onscreen in a 2011 episode of Sesame Street and has since segued into music. In 2020, for example, she released the track “To the World,” which she called a “hauntingly gritty single.” And last March, Knowings tweeted that she’d be attending Bynes’ conservatorship hearing along with their fellow All That alum Leon Frierson.

Amanda Bynes
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Amanda Bynes

Amid struggles in her personal life, Bynes hasn’t acted on screen since the 2010 rom-com film Easy A. A judge lifted Bynes’ eight-year conservatorship in March 2022, however, and her attorney told Entertainment Tonight that the former What I Like About You star had fielded offers about documentaries or a reality show about her life.

Ciara Bravo
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Ciara Bravo

Bravo, an alum of Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush, starred as Delilah “Del” Luccetti in the Prime Video comedy series Wayne in 2019 and recurred as Mary Smith in the FX on Hulu drama A Teacher the following year. In 2021, she starred opposite Tom Holland in the Apple TV+ drama film Cherry and appeared in the independent drama film Small Engine Repair.

Matt Bennett
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Matt Bennett

Bennett’s most recent two TV roles were both on Netflix: He recurred as Gavin Landers in the mockumentary American Vandal in 2018 and guest-starred as a henchman in the live-action Cowboy Bebop reboot last year. He also reunited with Ariana Grande, his old costar from Nickelodeon’s Victorious, in her 2018 music video for “Thank U, Next.”