IDDrake Bell and Josh Peck reunited for a podcast where they unpacked their friendship, their fallout, and their time on Nickelodeon. They also had some tough conversations about the crimes of Brian Peck. Warning: some may find this content distressing.
Last year, Drake appeared on ID’s explosive true crime docu-series Quiet on Set, which lifted the curtain on the toxic culture behind some of the biggest kids’ shows of the 2000s and ignited conversations about the safety of child actors.
At the time, talks also turned to Josh, who famously appeared on The Amanda Show alongside Drake before they fronted the hit 2004 Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh. Although the pair fell out in the past, they’ve since rebuilt a friendship.
After Quiet on Set, Josh expressed his support for Drake, and this week they appeared on Josh and Ben Soffer’s Good Guys podcast to discuss their history. During their chat, one name that comes up is Brian Peck (not related to Josh).
Who is Brian Peck?
IDBrian Peck is a convicted sex offender, having been arrested in 2003 at age 43 for sexually assaulting then-15-year-old Drake Bell in 2001. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison in 2004 and ordered to register as a sex offender.
Prior to this conviction, Peck worked as an actor and became known as the Pickle Boy on the Nickelodeon show All That. He also starred in Boy Meets World, Good Burger, Growing Pains, and The Amanda Show.
Following his appearance on All That, Peck was hired as a dialogue coach, which is how he gained access to Drake. Although Drake wasn’t named in the court case to protect him, he revealed that he was the victim in Quiet on Set.
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Despite the charges against Peck and his sex offender status, Drake described how a lot of industry insiders sided with his abuser – including The Amanda Show’s respective director and stage manager, Rich and Beth Correll.
Not long after getting out of prison, Peck went on to work with the Corrells again on the Disney Channel show, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
Variety found out that Peck only performed voiceover work and didn’t interact with the cast. An insider told the outlet that he was fired when the network found out about his conviction.
Nonetheless, many feel he should have never been allowed to work again. In Quiet on Set, Kate Taylor – a journalist for Business Insider – said it “shows that there are not enough protections in place to keep even convicted sexual predators off of kids TV shows.”
What was he charged with?
IDWhen Peck was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department, he faced 11 charges, including a lewd act upon a child, sodomy of a person under 16, and attempted sodomy of a person under 16.
Additional counts included sexual penetration by a foreign object, four counts of oral copulation of a person under 16, oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance, sending harmful matter, and using a minor for sex acts.
As stated by the LAPD at the time, “The investigation, which included a search of Peck’s residence, is ongoing. Peck remains in custody pending his arraignment on molestation charges. His bail was set at $500,000.”
He pleaded no contest to two of the 11 charges: oral copulation with a minor under 16 and performing a lewd act with a minor.
Where is Brian Peck now?
IDPeck is living in Los Angeles and his IMDb suggests he’s been out of the entertainment industry for several years.
As said, even though he’s a convicted sex offender, he did temporarily work for the Disney show after prison, and went on to bag numerous cast and crew jobs after.
Among his acting credits are Bedtime Stories (2008), Captain Battle: Legacy War (2012), and Freaks of Nature (2015). Peck was last pictured in public in March 2024, when TMZ pictured him near his home in LA.
Drake and Josh speak about Peck in the Good Guys podcast, describing him as a monster. Drake explained that it was during the break between filming for The Amanda Show and Drake & Josh that he told his mom about the abuse.
“When we shot the pilot we were in the middle of the investigation, but nobody had known anything because Brian hadn’t been arrested,” he said. The “worst part about it” was having “the monster” there in what was previously his safe place.
Josh later recalled a conversation he had with Drake where he asked if he still spoke with Peck, to which he replied, “No, Brian’s a really bad guy.” Although Josh took this on board, it wasn’t until he watched Quiet on Set that he fully understood why.
“It’s only in watching the doc that I can realize that just him being put to justice – which thank God he was and he deserved to go longer – but what about you? What about the trauma you endured?” Josh said.
“It’s so much deeper, it’s so much more unacceptable than all that. It’s not this clean, ‘Well he went to jail so everyone’s all better now.’”
You can listen to Part 1 of the Good Guys podcast with Drake Bell on the usual platforms or via Josh’s YouTube channel, with Part 2 dropping on Thursday, March 27.
In the meantime, check out the most underrated true crime podcasts and find new documentaries streaming this month.