Spiddlekick Interview

The Spiddlekick Interview is an interview that took place on September 16th, 2022 between Daniel (who was paid $100 beforehand) and Kiwi Farms user Spiddlekick. While recorded in 2022, the footage for it was released in 2023, and compiled into one video on April 9th, 2024 by DLR Wiki editor KanamoriKamper.

This video reveals crucial information about Daniel's childhood, his time in the Tennyson center, how him and Bob met, information surrounding the custody battle for him after being removed from his parents care by social services, and other fascinating information surrounding himself that was unknown prior.

Summary

The following are the main points within this interview, from Daniel himself. Keep in mind that due to Daniel's constant tendency to lie, much of what is said within the full interview may be inaccurate, or completely made up.

• Daniel's feelings towards the center are mixed, as he wasn't allowed to go out into the world. He also claims that they didn't learn "normal skills" as they never needed them. It is unclear what this means. Staff are also stated to be called "leaders".
• Once a week Daniel met with a therapist, and once a month Daniel would meet with a doctor who supplied him with medication. The group home Daniel stayed at during his time living at the Tennyson Center was called a "cottage". Daniel claims that it was not worth staying at the Tennyson center, as the staff did not seem to help with anything, and he, quote, "learned everything as if he was an adult". Daniel lived at the Tennyson Center for a year and a half.
• Daniel claims to have taken third grade math and fourth grade science, despite at the time of attending the Tennyson Center, being well into his teens.
• On weekends, the Tennyson Center would do field trips. These field trips consisted of going hiking, going to the zoo, and aquarium. Daniel claims these trips got boring quickly after two weeks due to the same activities being repeated. This contributed to his dislike of day groups in disability programs, due to them being repetitive.
• Daniel claims to have worked with one of his teachers for two years due to him being extremely successful with her. After leaving the Tennyson Centers cottage program, Daniel claims to have been bumped up a grade due to how succesful he was doing.
• Daniel claims that the reason for him being followed around by staff in school was not due to him being unable to care for himself, but because he had a good friendship with the teachers. During the day, he'd go everywhere with a teacher due to having a friendship that, in his words, "couldn't be broken".
• While in school, Daniel was not fond of his history teachers. This was due to clashes in their personalities, which Daniel claims may be because of his history teacher seeming as though he had his own mental health issues. Daniel claims this teacher had a short temper, and that he was the most hated teacher in the school, due to allegeadly kicking out half of the students in class by the time it ended, which Daniel claims to have happened to him.
• Daniel says he cried after learning the Tennyson Center closed, despite not knowing why. He says that while the Tennyson Center was a good place, it hired the wrong people.
• Daniel expresses dislike with how his afformentioned history teacher taught the class, due to how much time was wasted in the beginnings of class, how he'd expect the children to teach themselves, and was almost always in a bad mood. Due to this, Daniel would do anything to get out of his class, so much so to the point where his teacher told him to not even bother coming anymore.
• Daniel claims to have only had 3 friends in school, who were the smartest kids in the school, which gave him a sense of superiority. Due to this, he claims that people came to hate him.
• Daniel claims to be one of the most bullied children at school, being teased by being called "Danny Phantom". This alleged bullying got so bad to the point where he would sit in the very back of the school bus, where he'd be hit by other children.

• Daniel met Bob through a program at the school called "Reading buddies", where they would read together and play board games. Their friendship got to be so good that they were allowed to meet outside of the program. Bob and his grandmother, Nancy, started up a small friendship, due to this.
• Social services put Daniel in the Tennyson center due to abuse, with the court case concerned whether he should be allowed to move back in with his mother or be "up for custody". His father and grandmother were in favor of the latter and subsequently battled for custody.
• Daniel's grandmother, Nancy Shimer, moved to Colorado during Daniel's custody case, she did not know Bob beforehand, but they would develop a friendship.
• Daniel doesn't know a lot about his parents and the custody case, and claims it's a "family secret". Even more, he doesn't even know if they were ever married.
• Daniel's father wanted him to move in with him in California, his grandmother rebuked this saying he barely knew his father, as she knew him more.
• Grandmother won the custody case after moving to Colorado, the court agreed Daniel should stay since he was used to Colorado after living there for over a year.
• Daniel's father calls his grandmother a bitch, saying she only won Daniel because she had money, and claims she failed at raising him.
• Daniel's mom was adopted by his grandmother. Nancy worked in some sort of social service where she had to transport babies put up for adoption to foster homes, this being where she found and adopted Daniel's mother.

Transcript

Q1: Did you enjoy your time at the Tennyson Center?

A1: I mean... it was kind of day to day. Some days I did, other days it was annoying. I think one of the things I really didn't like was how I didn't go out in the world. It was all one location so if we did (inaudible) it was with a group of people...um...with like a leader, they call them staff...um...and I didn't really learn the normal skills that you would need, like, in real life.. because we never needed them.

Q2: I asked Dan what kind of classes he took at the Tennyson Center. I was intending for him to tell me what specific normal-type classes he took. Instead he describes the Non-academic things he does there-Hence the next clip. I also ask him how long he's been there.

A2: I mean... they were set up to where, I mean, once a week I was getting like a class, once a week I was meeting up with a therapist, once a month I would meet up with a meds doctor. I would go to normal middle school and high school at the same location, and then they would (inaudible) what they call a cottage, which was like a group home involved as well, all at one location. So I did that. Um... I mean it wasnt really worth.. really staying there at the location because they really don't help with anything. Like the staff are just there, y'know, like- and, then you're learning everything as if you're already an adult which kind of...(muted). I lived at the Tennyson Center for like a year and a half.

Q3: What kind of classes did you take at the Tennyson? I ask him to be specific. This is one of the favorite moments in the interview-I died laughing.

A3: It was, like, basic. So, like, third grade math... um... third- you know, fourth grade science, like the normal, y'know.

Q4: What kind of activities would you participate in at the Tennyson Center? I find it funny how he says he would "rather be doing what he's doing now". I think it speaks to the ridiculousness of the situation. By all ways you can measure. Dan is functionally famous. Even more so today than he was at the time of this recording. However there's no chance people are willing to pay him, with any regularity, to talk to him.

A4: On weekends they would do field trips, on Saturday and Sunday. Um... and, I mean, that is like normal stuff that you would do, like, in school, so it would be like going up to the mountains and hike for two hours. Um...there would be going to like the Denver zoo or the Denver aquarium. But I mean after you do all of that there's not much else you can really do, so it got boring like real quick after like a good two weeks, because we were, like, doing the same stuff which is part of the reason why I don't, like... if you know like what day program stuff is its like where...if you don't have a job and you're in disability services you can like... (inaudible) a group of people and do fun things. The reason why I don't do that anymore is because its the same thing over and over and over again. And I would rather have a job I would rather do my music or do what I'm doing now and actually talk with new people rather than the same thing every single day.

Q5: Can you tell me about your teachers? Did any of them have a strong impact on you?

A5: Yeah...um...one of my teachers I was doing so successful with that they literally...I worked with her for like a full 2 years so when I left after a year and a half and I was living with my grandmother in foster care at the time and I was going to school there still so during the day I would go to school at the school portion. I was doing so well with her that they literally put me there in class even though it was the wrong grade, they were actually like...um...she was willing to up my grade and give me the right type of economics of mathematics or history that like...basically she would be teaching like multiple grades which is like a (inaudible) or something like that.

Q6: Do you have any particular stories where that teacher had an impact? - This is an odd one, I'm torn if Daniel is being truthful here. I think he's embellishing how well they got along of course, but the mention of people claiming (paraphrased) 'He has to have someone follow him around',. I don't know if this was just a current insecurity he had, that he doesn't want to be perceived as needing a helper, if this is what kids at school said to bully him, or if he's just lying and accidentally told the truth. Regardless, an interesting clip.

A6: Yeah! Um... I mean she was the type of person I'm sure you've seen people on, like, the reddit. The Daniel Larson Reddit, which is run by.. fans. Its not run by me, but it's run by fans. I'm pretty sure you've seen a lot of comments, I have, but, it's like... Daniel Larson is always with somebody, he's never alone in school, he always has to have someone follow him around. That is not because I y'know wasn't capable, it was literally the type of friendship that we had. With me and the teachers. So it was like during the day we would just go everywhere together, which is I mean, a kind of friendship that cannot be broken. It was like how well we got along with people.

Q7: Did you have a teacher that you didn't like/didn't like you? Any stories? - Dan also acknowledges that the Tennyson Center has since closed here (It is now closed and is in fact still open).

A7: Yes um..there was one teacher that I literally couldn't even stand in class. It was like... like he was a history teacher and um... I just didn't like him at all because it would be, like, I would walk into the class and, I'm a happy guy, I'm very talkative and his attitude would be like, "Ok class, sit down". It would seem like he has his own mental health issues and he shouldn't be working at a mental health place, right? He definitely had a short temper and he was there the entire time I was there which is surprising enough because he is from what the entire school was a hated teacher in the school and I mean he did kick out half the student by the time the class ended so it's (inaudible) yeah, I was like one of them that he actually told me to leave his class and I like literally and its like why would he even do that? When I tried to speak up about it, because I go to school there as a y'know my own mental health right? My mental health issues of course they (inaudible) student, so it was like his real concerns weren't actually being heard and I actually found out that the Tennyson center closed and are no longer in service which i actually cried about a month ago that they have been shut down, do I don't know why they shut down but I was told that they were a company that was just y'know, locally owned, really really good company that just hired wrong people I guess.

Q8: I ask Dan if there are any specific examples of a clash/fight with that particular teacher - Truth be told, I dislike how I asked that question. Even in the few minutes following actually asking it, I disliked it. I think I was trying too hard to lead Dan into saying something that I wanted. I really wanted Dan to tell me a scary story where he got into an actual scuffle/fight with that teacher.

A8: Yeah I mean the way he would teach the class was like as if it was like so our classes were like 45 minutes long, which is like the normal classes you would get at a normal school. So it was like a normal day where you would go to class A then move to class B things like that. So you wouldn't have the same teacher. the bad thing about i didn't like the way he was teaching it because i was going to his class, we would start maybe after 10 minutes right so we only had 30 minutes left of class and he would just be y'know, he acted like everything was not his job. he would give you your paperwork and expect you to teach yourself (inaudible). I don't think we really clashed or anything, I think it was just like, I would go to class with memories of like the day previously i would be in a bad mood, he would already be in a bad mood yknow what I'm saying and those 2 bad moods did not really work so what would happen was i would do anything and anything i could just to get out of the class and his response was don't even come to my class which...what am i supposed to do.

Q9: Do you have friends your own age at the Tennyson Center? - This clip contains an interesting parallel to Chris Chan. I recommend you watch it yourself first to see what it is he says.

A9: Yeah I had um kind of crazy to say this but i literally had 2 i had about 3 friend, really close friends um and what i remember is like um i remember just like them being a lot smarter than me at the time so they were probably 3 of the smartest kids in the entire school so for me to be hanging out with them and getting along great made me feel like i was it made me feel like i was higher rank than the rest of the school (inaudible) the good sides and bad side sometimes because i felt like by doing that i literally had power over the school hanging out with the 3 best kids of yknow the school including me (inaudible) just gained yknow like everyone else really kind of hated me at that point um

Q10. Were you bullied at the school

A10: I was probably one of the most bullied in the school, yeah so on the Disney channel i think it was there as a tv show called Danny phantom so one of the things everyone would do is mimic you know as a way of hating on me calling me Danny Phantom like hey Danny phantom you know and actually say it like that to on purpose to piss me off (inaudible) say that, call me by my regular name and I mean like it was going viral in the school um so it was I was screwed basically that became one of the biggest things in the school, you call me Danny phantom you were basically a bully um kind of like Quacko y'know if you say the word Quacko in the Daniel Larson fanbase, you were a troll its kind of like that. um but yeah um that was one of the big things that happened with that i was on the school bus getting bullied to the point where i would sit all the way in the back of the bus and anyone that sat back there with me would literally try to kick me because i mean i guess there's nothing you can do on a school bus, the driver was driving, if there was a fight the fight would happen every single day after a mile after we leave the school the school bus would pull over along the side of the road and um call the police every single day so there were days where I was 5 hours delayed and didn't get home until 8 or 9 o'clock and the school gets out at like 2:30 so for me to get home after dinner and then its like, what are we doing for dinner or kind of jacked up.

Q11: Was the Tennyson Center a violent place?

A11: It was a very very violent place um and then I mean they had one room I guess to where its like um a brick room, they call it. Um and it had a window so i guess its um if somebody breaks a window they call the police I never did that i never broke a window, um i never broke door or anything like that um but supposedly the school what they called time out rooms and I was like always i was always thrown in the time out rooms for like crying obsessive crying or u know not like stupid things not cooperating with the teacher i was put (inaudible) but like other clients, other students would actually like go into the room and the staff are afraid to use physical restraints to where they cross your arms, you probably seen people do this, seen it to where they have to like they have to get 4 staff that their jobs are to watch over those rooms and i seen it where they have to get 4 staff onto one person and their job is to because (inaudible) school their job is to try to stop the police from entering. So they tried their hardest not to call the police. So if it takes 5 staff to calm somebody down and a full 2-3 hours to do so they will try to do that... which is crazy and i seen it to where its that bad and they actually locked down the school so they like literally said okay we're not going out for recess right now because there's an incident outside so they do recess for the entire school in the gym. i mean it was that type of environment and i mean i didn't like it because i felt like i didn't even fit in because i was hanging out with i mean in a school like that 2 of the...probably of the most well behaved people in the school just doesn't feel right.

Q12: How exactly did you and Bob meet? - In my opinion, the most important contribution I have made to the DLR lore. I finally clarified Bob's origin story. Prior to this, it was widely believed that Bob and Dan's grandmother were long-term partners. I.E. they had a sexual relationship. This was said to explain Bob's dedication despite their lack of a blood relationship. I knew there was no real proof of this and decided to confirm the truth. Bob just saw Dan as a kid who needed help and has tried to help him ever since. People always say they don't understand why Bon just doesn't abandon Dan. Personally, I think Bob just sees Dan as a young kid who just needs help. A real tragedy if you just think about it.

A12: Yes, so I met Bob on there was once a week, there was once a week a class I would call it, or a club called Reading Buddies. And it's like an hour to where um.. you would go into the school library, and you would be paired up with what they call a reading buddy. And Bob was one of the people that was one of the options of the people that I could choose from, uh. to be my reading buddy. And it just so happened that Bob and I were chosen to be together for reading buddies and we hit it off so well um that I named the person that was in charge of reading buddy, like the lead board basically of the Tennyson center that literally said that they don't see an issue of us continuing on our friendship. And it lasted to this day, and literally (inaudible) to the day he goes up to heaven.

Q13: I ask Dan here if Bob and his Grandmother really know each other, were they friends? Dan instead dumps some info about the drama surrounding his grandmother's custody.

A13: So at the time I wasn't with my grandma, right so I heard that things (inaudible) for custody at the Tennyson Center. Then my grandmother, my mother, my biological mother um and my dad all got came into a lawsuit, right. Um of who wants custody type of thing, right. My grandmother um Nancy, was her name um she decided to move to Colorado for the time being during the uh I guess you would call it the court case lawsuit custody battle hearing whatever. And my grandmother had two options, to go back to California or to stay here in Colorado. My grandmother made the decision, since I lived in Colorado at the time to stay here in Colorado, right. And so my grandmother won the custody case and um at that time I was still staying at the Tennyson center, in and out of foster care, during the custody stuff. And during that time I kind of did you know what I wasn't supposed to do, but I mean if you don't do something like that you don't always grow, right. Sometimes you do something across the line a little bit. So I told bob about my grandmother at the time. And I was like i know this is not ok, I don't remember what i said. But I literally said if there is a way we can stay in communication, that would be great. And it just so happened that it worked out.

Q14: I refocus Dan on answering what kind of relationship Bob and his grandmother had.

A14: There was like a friendship a little bit, yeah the board games in my bedroom which I don't always play anymore because i don't have anyone to play with because bob is like, getting older. I mean we could probably play it but it wouldn't be the same anymore um because its not I mean here and there its ok you know what I mean but the same (Inaudible) closer to my age. Bob and I you know would play board games, so the three of us definitely had that type of friendship together.

Q15: Subject change time! I'd like to know more about your time between leaving your Grandmother's house, and downloading TikTok. What was life like in the group homes before your fame? The ending of this video provides context for, and leads directly in to the next one.

A15: Well I wanna say that it was very boring. It was a lot of the same stuff that Tennyson center kind of was. It was, I wake up in the morning right, and instead of gong to the Tennyson Center, I would go to a day program. And it would be five days a week. And like I said it would be things like going to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science or the Denver Zoo, or going to the park. Maybe go hiking in the mountains of Denver, Colorado, right. Pretty much just said all the options right there, right. So you know once doing that five days a week for a year, just over and over again gets super tiring. You end up not liking going to the Denver Zoo, even with your own family. You've seen it so many times your just like, ok what am I going to actually see here? Like if you don't have a purpose to go there its not the same. And so its probably one of the biggest things that I didn't like. As far as my life, the provider, or whoever I was staying with right, it was like I didn't fit in, it was like I.. I know this sounds crazy for me to say, but right now I'm speaking very fine, and I know what I'm talking like.. (Clip ends for some reason)

Q16: This was unprompted. Between the last clip and this one I did not ask any questions. Dan volunteered this theory and I think it's telling about some deep insecurities he has. On some level, I think Dan is aware that he's retarded. I jus think he can't personally accept that and instead is trying to silly his was out of being disabled. You can see more of this in his car videos with Bob: Bob will say pretty clearly that Dan is deficient and largely unable to do things on his own 0 That'll upset Dan and he's vehemently deny it. The sound going off halfway through is my timer that I had originally set up for this.

A16: I.. people try to say that I have autism. I don't always think that its autism, I think its PTSD or post traumatic abuse, neglect because of what I have been through, right, right. So sometimes I feel like I panic at times that I shouldn't, and if no one arounds me know like what I need or communicates well with me, then it doesn't help at all, it turns into arguments.

Q17: I ask Dan here to speak more on the custody battle. It wasn't known that his parents made any effort to gain custody so I was deeply curious to find out more. No clue if he's telling the truth here as he prefaces it all with he has no clue. You can be the judge. This was the longest clip out of all of them and even at 720p needed to be slip up into two parts due to file size (It's four minutes and four seconds long)

A17: Yes, because my mother and my dad, I guess I'm not fully sure of their story because I was never really told anything and it was kind of a family secret. So its something that I don't even know to this day. Um its like a big mystery to me. But I guess my mother and my father were in a divorce or something like that. Ok, or they were never even married to begin with, I don't know. But, my dad still lived in California while I was living with my mother in Colorado, right. And social services I guess is what put me into the Tennyson Center when they found out about the abuse. So it was really in the end it was a legal battle between am i safe enough to go back to my mother or should I be put up for custody which I think my dad tried or my grandmother. One of the two wanted me up for custody. And they were speaking up about it at the time, right, abut my mother. And so what that ended up happening was my dad got involved and was like, "Come live with me in California." And then my grandmother was like, Daniel doesn't even know his dad, I know Daniel lot more because I'm was one of the closest people to him when he lived in California, my grandmother got involved, right. As far as the court, they were trying to figure out who would be the best fit for me: my dad or my grandmother. So my grandmother moved to Colorado and said that my grandmother would stay in Colorado because I'm used to Colorado after a year and a half, right. Then my grandmother, the court basically said easy win. And (Inaudible) to this day your grandmother's a bitch because she won you over just the fact she had money. She didn't actually raise you well, because if she would've raised you well, she would've taught you right from wrong, she would've taught you skills. And it was like, I mean my dad is right, but I mean I can't blame my grandmother for that because I didn't know my dad that much, right. So, I feel like every one has their own feelings, um and it is what it is. (Inaudible) couldn't get to my father, just like I want to get closer to my mother, because the entire situation was just screwed. It's you know a situation. I really want to get closer to them but now that I am, I mean, its easy enough to say now, 1 billion views, and I am only growing more and more and more. I get spotted in public on a daily basis, not every wants be affiliated in that. And that's a new struggle I have to get over. And I'm slowly losing Bob because of my popularity like Bob is paranoid sometimes of being in public. So, It's run while you can. But yeah, that's what's going on in my life.

Q18: Just curious, was your grandmother on your dad's side, or your mom's side? He actually gives some really interesting info here, turns out his mom is adopted and she never knew her biological parents. There's a large lag spike here and unfortunately, we miss what I think might've been something interesting. Such as life.

A18: She was on my mother's. (Inaudible) about my mother um... very much. But supposedly, my grandmother was in uh I don't want to say social services herself like a case manager, case worker. But I think she was something like that. She kept talking about how she was like when a baby's put up for adoption she was always the one that had to drive the baby's to you know what I mean to there foster care or whatever. All I know is that my mother at a young age was put up for adoption, k. And my grandmother, Nancy, right adopted my mother. So my mother never really knew her mother so that where my mothers... I guess... trauma came from. My mother with my dad I don't I don't, like I said, I don't know if this is true or not. (Inaudible) because that's what it is now. My mother, for my understanding had me at a young age to where she wasn't finically ready to where she wasn't mentally ready. So when that happened my mother didn't know how to take care of me, we'll just say it that way. So that created trauma in the family. And I don't blame my mother for that, I don't blame anyone for that. I'm happy to be here, I'm happy to be alive because I wouldn't be here otherwise, right. I feel like my job in this world is to do... I feel like everyone should do what makes them happy, that how I feel. We're all in this world for a reason, and if we don't make the best of it we are just going to die unhappy and that's not how any of us want to live.

Q19: Are you happy where you currently live? (This is during Shield Housing)

A19: Yeah, I enjoy it a lot where I currently live. Um.... I mean.... the only thing I really want o say that is kind of a trauma I don't want to say trauma cause its not really traumatizing me but what I wanna say is that like my grandmother is the type of person that put me into performing at a young age. Even when I lived in California before I even moved to Colorado and got put into the Tennyson Center. So I was always somebody that loved to travel because my grandmother traveled and I loved performing. Being in services and being where I am now, I really really miss the traveling. I miss the places and I really miss performing. Which is really why I became a singer. Because I don't care if I'm good or not as long as somebody thinks that I'm doing for this world that's all that matters to me. I will put up content even if I'm the most hated person. As long as I'm happy, as long as I made at least one person happy, that's all that matters.

Q20: Do you like your roommates Dan?

A20: Yes I do.