"Hunger Games: Catching Fire" was the big winner at Nickelodeon's 27th annual Kids' Choice Awards on Saturday. The movie earned three blimps — favorite movie actress and favorite female buttkicker for star Jennifer Lawrence, and best movie — but with the actress' absence, there was no sliming for the franchise.
There was almost no sliming for host Mark Wahlberg either. The "Transformers" star, who had declared himself "unslimable" on Twitter and at the start of the show, successfully avoided the green goo — until the end. That's when the actor's children teamed up with comedian Kevin Hart for a knock-knock joke that wrapped up with a seemingly endless stream of gunk dumped over Wahlberg's head.
"Sucker! We got you! We got you! ... Keep it coming!" Hart screamed as the slime drenched the actor. After the show, Wahlberg corrected his earlier declaration.
But it wasn't all goofy fun and games. The show took a more serious turn when "Iron Man" star Robert Downey Jr. went on stage to accept his blimp for favorite male buttkicker.
"I wasn't always a buttkicker," the 48-year-old actor admitted to the kids in the audience. "In fact, life has kicked my proverbial butt countless times in many ways through many years until I decided one day to start kicking back."
"To all the kids around this wonderful blue planet, thank you for this awesome statue, and remember: When life is kicking your butt, never forget to kick it back right in the face," added Downey, who had struggled with substance abuse earlier in his career.
Other winners included One Direction for favorite music group, Justin Timberlake for male singer, "Frozen" for animated movie and Adam Sandler for actor. (See the Kids' Choice Awards website for the full list of winners.)
Nickelodeon viewers cast votes online in more than 20 categories, spanning film, television, books, music and sport to pick their favorites for the stunt-filled annual award show.
— The Hollywood Reporter and Reuters contributed to this report.
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