“GUTS” Referee Moira Quirk Admits She Didn't Know Much About American Sports Before Landing the '90s Role (Exclusive)

Moira Quirk was the referee on Nickelodeon 'GUTS' from 1992 to 1995

• Moira Quirk was just getting her start in acting when she got the chance to join Nickelodeon's GUTS

• Quirk appeared on Clarissa Explains It All and worked in Orlando's theme parks in the lead-up to her casting

• Quirk tells PEOPLE the exciting time in her life involved cramming a lot of work into a few short weeks each summer
  

Moira Quirk was new to her career — and the United States — when a casting opportunity changed her life.

Quirk, who officiated Nickelodeon's GUTS, a '90s competition series in which athletes competed in sporting challenges around the Extreme Arena for a chance to climb the AggroCrag, tells PEOPLE that getting into children's TV was not her intention when she set out into her creative career.

"I had come to visit my grandmother, who lived in Orlando at that time, and I was supposed to be staying for just a couple of weeks with her and here I am still," she tells PEOPLE.

England native Quirk, now 55, worked at Universal Studios and Disney World during her time in Orlando. She also made an appearance on Clarissa Explains It All.

"They knew me [at Nickelodeon]," she shares. "So when this audition pool [for GUTS] came out, I decided to audition for it."

The auditioning process wasn't new to Quirk, but once she landed the gig, she realized what a learning curve there would be.

"I was a fresh-faced young thing. It turns out it was a sports show primarily, and I really didn't know American sports," she admits, explaining that even in England, she was only a fan of tennis and downhill skiing.

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"So these games are based on basketball and football and such. I mean track, I understood, but the rest was all new to me," Quirk says. "I came in, and I think they liked me because I was sort of amusing and off the cuff."

Splitting her time between gigs and working on her improv, Quirk thought what they found amusing felt "very school marm-ish" to her, looking back.

Quirk enjoyed the bustle and seeing how the different sets came to life: "It was fun seeing the art department creating these gigantic things. It was so fun and so new."

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The other half of the GUTS team was Mike O'Malley, the host to Quirk's referee. She says it was a blast for the two to work together as the show took off.

"Mike was great. He was just like a big loud, American boy. I'd come from university, a drama school at an arts college. I was used to artsy English boys, which is not to say Mike doesn't want to talk about poetry and literature. Of course, he does. He's a smart guy,"she says. "He was just quite different than why I just previously surrounded myself by."

Quirk remembers being fascinated by the "highly amusing" contestants (like Olympic skier Picabo Street and boxer Evander Holyfield) who appeared on the show.

"It was just such a melee all the time," she recalls. "It was always a fun three weeks in the summer because it was all crammed in. We did three episodes a day, so a 45-episode season would be done in three weeks. So we'd have a few weeks of fun and madness that I enjoyed with Mike and the crew, and then we all got on with our separate lives."

Both Quirk and O'Malley also appeared on Figure It Out, hosted by Summer Sanders, where a panel of Nickelodeon talent had to guess a child contestant's unusual secret talents.

"That was all very silly," Quirk says. "I do remember being very irritated one time because we had to blindfold ourselves and taste something. It was ranch dressing, and I absolutely loathe mayonnaise."

"Even now, I'm like, 'Come on, Nickelodeon! A heads up!' It was before things were like they are now, with being so careful about allergens and everything. But they were like, 'Nope, stick your finger in this, eat that, jump in that.' "

While she was working on projects at Nickelodeon, Quirk was also working on her voice acting career, starting off with voiceovers around Orlando in her theater and improv days, and going on to voice a number of notable characters across video games. as well as animated television and film.

"Skyrim seems to be the one people bring up most. I played Karliah for that. Another two are when I played The Exo Stranger for Destiny 2 and Professor Mirabel Garlick for Hogwarts Legacy," she shares.

She's also lent her voice to many audiobooks. Her fans "go absolutely bananas for the Gideon The Ninth series of books," she says.

Quirk is grateful for the fans she's amassed in the different areas and eras of her career, though the acknowledgment hasn't always come easy to her.

"I struggle with that because I'm realizing I'm a bit of an extroverted introvert, or maybe the other way around. Once I'm out, I'm having a good time but I'm very happy in my home. I'm also British, and very much, 'Don't toot your own horn or talk about yourself,' so that [adoration] was difficult," she explains.

"But then I realized that there are things that are important to me and that I'm a fan of when I get to meet people. I do get to meet and work with people who I've just worshiped, so I've sort of learned through that," she continues. "I actually think it's really lovely. I appreciate it and it's nice."

And every now and then she'll still run into a GUTS contestant when she least expects it.

"I've gone into a few coffee places and someone will quietly say, 'I know who you are,' as they hand me my coffee," she says.

"I still have great friends from that time in my life," Quirk adds, looking back. "Mike and I are still in contact. He recently went over to the comedy club where my younger daughter works, and I got a lovely picture he sent over."

She continues, "There's also a cameraman from GUTS who is a sports cameraman now. Him and his wife and me and my husband get together when they're in town. It's great that he relationships have continued from those days."

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