Metta Sandiford-Artest, previously known as Ron Artest and Metta World Peace, was one of the most unique personalities of his time. Even in his playing days, Sandiford-Artest was constantly seen in ventures outside of basketball. In 2010, he developed his own reality program, “They Call Me Crazy,” in collaboration with E1 Entertainment and Tijuana Entertainment. He featured as a special panelist on Nickelodeon’s game program “Figure It Out” in 2012 and also as a newscaster in the Comedy Central sketch show Key and Peele’s “Metta World News” in 2013. The Los Angeles Lakers champion retired in 2017 and has recently begun a foray into reality television.

Fresh off his 2018 stint on Big Brother, the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year appeared on Fox’s ‘The Masked Singer’ earlier this week. Panelist Nicole Scherzinger was thoroughly fooled by his costumed performance. Metta World Peace was elated with his successful return to reality TV after his disappointing exit from ‘Dancing with the Stars’.

Metta World Peace performing off-court after his retirement from the NBA

Iman Shumpert became the first former NBA player to win ‘Dancing with the Stars’ in 2021. However, a decade prior, Metta World Peace gave the contest his best shot. He appeared on the 13th season of the reality show but was eliminated in the first week after doing cha-cha to the song ‘Krazy’ with his partner Peta Murgatroyd.

Despite his elimination, Metta World Peace accepted it positively, saying he liked his time there and requesting a round of applause for his rookie pro partner. Following the applause, he said, “Wasn’t she amazing?” Of course, Sandiford-Artest is also not going down easy after his DWTS failure.

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The NBA legend appeared as the Cuddle Monster in the latest episode of ‘The Masked Singer’ on Wednesday. He sang “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” by New Kids on the Block, and none of the celebrity panelists accurately identified Metta. They thought of Dennis Rodman and Tristan Thompson, but not Sandiford-Artest!

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Metta World Peace also tweeted, saying it was him under the costume on Wednesday night. The former NBA champ revealed, “It was fun. It was a great experience. It was actually a really cool process.”

After performing on the stage wearing the cuddle monster costume, the 44-year-old admitted, “I definitely got into shape while I was practicing with it and then also performing live with it. It was heavy, difficult to move with it. It was almost like a workout, honestly.”

Well, it was worth the hassle because Metta World Peace had Nicole Scherzinger fully confused.

Nicole Scherzinger partly gets her wish

Nicole Scherzinger, a panelist on ‘The Masked Singer,’ wished it was Shaquille O’Neal, but Metta revealed his identity.

Well, at least it was one of the Lakers champions, even if not Big Diesel himself. Back in 2001, the former Pussycat Dolls member collaborated with four-time NBA champion Shaq on a cover of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s 1988 hit ‘It Takes Two.’

Of course, along with being a three-peat winner, Shaq was also one of the hottest hip-hop stars around the turn of the century. Given their history together, it’s understandable why Scherzinger wanted to find O’Neal under the hood.

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After Sandiford-Artest was revealed, Nicole Scherzinger chimed in with some encouragement. “You have a beautiful energy and spirit about you, and it just showed through. We all just fell in love with you.”

Even after elimination from both shows Metta kept a bright smile on his face. That’s why he is known as the mental health hero. Always trying different things and never giving up!