Maroon 5 to Perform Brand-New Single for First Time Live on TV at Nickelodeon's 20th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, Joining Gwen Stefani on Musical Bill of Live Telecast, Saturday, March 31, 8-9:50 PM

LOS ANGELES, March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Two-time Grammy Award-winning rock- soul band Maroon 5 will perform their brand-new single "Makes Me Wonder" for the first time live on TV, at Nickelodeon's 20th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, joining previously announced KCA superstar performer Gwen Stefani to rock this year's milestone telecast hosted by Justin Timberlake, Saturday, March 31 (8- 9:50 p.m. ET/PT). The song is from the band's forthcoming (May 22) album "It Won't Be Soon Before Long." Stefani will ignite the kid crowd with the hit title song from her new album, "The Sweet Escape" also featuring popular singer-songwriter Akon.

Kids will rule and record-breaking slime will rain at the kudos/mess-fest, with Ryan Seacrest set to host the breathtaking, never-before-attempted World Record Slime Stunt featuring bungee jumping. And in the first-ever interactive sliming, Nickelodeon, the kid channel at the forefront of user-generated programming, will put goo-gushing in kids' hands by asking viewers to vote on nick.com for the drenching mode of this year's secret celebrity slimee and sit back for the awesome, real-time spectacle. The 2007 slime recipient will join the venerated list of stars who've 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. Of course, glorious green slime-bursts will drench who knows whom throughout the show, breaking the slime barrier.

"We are thrilled that Nickelodeon's 20th Annual Kids' Choice Awards has evolved into such a must-see Hollywood event that Maroon 5 would select our stage to perform their new single on TV live for the first time," said Marjorie Cohn, Executive Vice President, Development and Original Programming, Nickelodeon and an Executive Producer for the award show. Cohn adds, "By extending the show by 20 more minutes, giving kids a real-time voice through our first interactive slime vote and with a slime-stunt 20-times more challenging, we're hoping to break the slime barrier this year!"

To mark the biggest, loudest, messiest, starriest spectacle in 20 years, Nick will treat kids to 20 additional, magical, messy minutes. The surprises, the slime, the stars, the music and the unabashed fun will just keep on coming. Then, at 9:50 p.m., the hour will be capped appropriately with an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards -- the only awards show that gives kids the power to vote for their favorites in movies, television, music, sports and more -- boasts a massive popular vote and sweeping audience participation. To date, an overwhelming, record-breaking 26 million already have cast votes in advance in a total of 16 categories -- breaking last year's final record- breaking total. Voting began online March 5 on Nick.com, and a different category is featured on-air in ME:TV each week. In fact, for the first time, kids can vote on all available Nickelodeon digital platforms including Nick.com, Nicktropolis and TurboNick or text in their votes via cell phones. Surprise awards also will be announced during the show.

Grammy and two-time Burp Award winner/host Timberlake will set the stage for KCA traditions including the Wannabe Award, an honor bestowed on a celebrity role model who kids most "want to be." Past recipients (chronologically 2001-06) are: Tom Cruise, Janet Jackson, Will Smith, Adam Sandler, Queen Latifah and Chris Rock. The sixth annual burp contest will offer a terrific new twist, featuring kids and stars, and take the noise level to a new high. Past Burp Award winners include: Cameron Diaz, Jessica Alba and Steve Irwin (shared honor), Justin Timberlake (two-time winner) and Hugh Jackman. And the World Record Slime Stunt hosted by Seacrest will astonish as never before. Last year, U.S. Olympic Freestyle Aerial Skier Ryan St. Onge set a World Record with a gravity-defying aerial skiing slime stunt off a snowy slope, plunging into 10,000 gallons of Nickelodeon's signature green slime.

Set to amp up the wattage this year are Will Ferrell, Nicole Kidman, Dakota Fanning, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, Bindi Irwin, Hilary Duff, Jessica Alba, Jamie Lynn Spears, George Lopez, Jon Heder, Chris Evans, 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 and Ryan Sheckler.

Nickelodeon's "Slime across America," a 50-market interactive tour that brings the green goo directly to kids, one city at a time, kicked off at the Nick Hotel in Orlando on February 26 and continues -- in an 18-wheel Slime Mobile driven by Pick Boy -- to 20 slimy stops before arriving in LA for Nickelodeon's 20th Annual Kids' Choice Awards. The tour features the Nick Live! Slime Edition stage show, a user-generated area where kids can create content to submit to Nick's new ME:TV interactive day-part (5-7 p.m. ET/PT), Nick stars and costumed characters, karaoke, auditions -- and of course slimings! Various slimings are featured on Nick throughout March during ME:TV. (A schedule of tour stops may be found at http://www.nick.com/slime. Nickelodeon's GoCityKids website also will also offer tour info.)

In a unique star-studded pre-show telecast hosted by TEENick's J. Boogie and Victoria Justice (Zoey 101) and featuring a musical performance by Drake Bell, the Orange Carpet arrivals will interlace programming from 6 to 8 p.m. ET/PT. Celebrity interviewees will climb atop a unique stage -- a.k.a. the "Slime across America" truck, conveniently parked next to the Orange Carpet.

Nicktropolis will offer a brand new virtual Kids' Choice Awards themed world where kids can stroll down the Orange Carpet, check out the KCA Control Room, sneak in Backstage, create their own Kids' Choice branded room and chat about the event in real time while watching the live TurboNick webcast together in viewing parties. TurboNick, Nickelodeon's broadband video service on Nick.com, will serve as the fully interactive home during the awards show, featuring a three-hour live Kids' Choice streaming event including coverage of the Orange Carpet, Backstage, and the Kids' Choice Awards after party, all hosted by ME:TV's Alexandra Gizela and Jordan Carlos.

Leading up to the award show, TurboNick will feature a Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards playlist, along with various clips from past awards shows and current promotions for the 20th Annual Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards. Mini-site features of the KCA 2007 area in TurboNick will include KCA clips, quizzes, games, and more.

Nickelodeon's 7th Annual Kids' Choice Awards was the first to air internationally in 1994 on Nickelodeon's channel in the UK and now, more than a decade later, the US show is seen in more than 205 million households across Nickelodeon's 34 channels in the UK, Europe, Russia, Israel, Asia, Australia, Latin America and Brazil. Since premiering the first KCAs in the US in 1987, Nickelodeon has launched eight fully localized versions around the globe starting with Meus Premios Brasil in 2000 and Mis Premios Nick Mexico in 2003. Annual events now also take place in Sweden, Holland, Italy, China and Australia with additional shows to launch later this year.

Wal-Mart has signed on to become the first and exclusive KCA retail sponsor. The advertising and promotional agreement between Wal-Mart and Nickelodeon will be divided among several Nickelodeon platforms including Nickelodeon television, Nickelodeon Magazine and Nick online. In stores, Wal- Mart will feature exclusive products and a designated Kids' Choice Awards display, and on-line kids can vote for their favorite DVD at http://www.nick.com/walmart. The official Kids' Choice Awards - Volume 3 CD was released on March 1 and will be available exclusively at Wal-Mart locations. The CD is a compilation of recent hit songs selected by kids from a who's who of popular artists.

Nickelodeon's 20th Annual Kids' Choice Awards is being produced by Nickelodeon Productions in association with Bob Bain Productions. Bob Bain, Mike Burg and Marjorie Cohn are executive producers. Paula Kaplan is co- executive producer. Media outlets can reference the most up-to-date information on Nickelodeon's 20th Annual Kids' Choice Awards by logging onto http://www.nickkcapress.com/.

About Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon, in its 28th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in almost 92 million households and has been the number-one- rated basic cable network for almost 12 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. .