‘Beyond the Edge’: Metta World Peace Talks His Major Decision in Episode 2 (Exclusive)

CBS’ newest reality series Beyond the Edge has tasked nine celebrities with one of the most intense tasks yet. The series sees the contestants engaging in a series of extreme challenges and living in a Survivor-esque camp with limited supplies all while trying to earn money for their respective charities. Alas, one of the celebrities decided that living in the wild elements was too much for them. At the end of Wednesday’s episode, Metta World Peace decided to ring his bell, bringing his time in Panama to an end. Following the experience, Metta spoke with PopCulture.com about why he decided to leave the game. 

During the second episode of the season, Metta, who’s also known as Ron Artest and Metta Sandiford-Artest, decided to ring the bell, Beyond the Edge‘s way of eliminating oneself from the series. The other individuals on the cast, including Mike Singletary and Ray Lewis, urged him to stay a bit longer. But, according to Metta, the reality of living another day in the Panamanian jungle became too much. On top of that, he already felt as though he got what he wanted out of the experience.

Metta did tell PopCulture.com that he has a slight regret about his departure, saying, “I kind of wish I would’ve stayed because you can’t really get that experience anywhere else.” Still, he said that after spending a night in the jungle and engaging in two high-intensity challenges, he felt alright with how his time on the show turned out. Metta said that he “learned so much about myself. I felt like I needed that competition, and I feel like I got so much out of the show that I felt like I was OK in just ending my journey early.”

While the Beyond the Edge experience proved to be a difficult one, Metta is taking away a ton from the experience. Not only was he able to raise money for his charity Artest University, which works to provide resources to those in underprivileged communities, but he learned a ton about himself. The former basketball player said that he did enjoy “being in the jungle, being amongst all those trees was very healing and therapeutic.” He also enjoyed the team aspect of the series and getting to meet a wide variety of personalities, saying, “being around other people and just talking about things without having your cell phone, learning about other people, that was beautiful.” 

Many have likened Beyond the Edge to a celebrity version of reality staple Survivor. But, while recalling his own experience, Metta said that he’s incredibly grateful that they weren’t forced to play a political game and vote others out, as he’s not sure that he would have been able to bond with the others in a similar fashion. “If they would’ve added the backstabbing and you’re really competing against each other, I don’t know who would’ve been able to deal with that,” Metta said. “So, I think it was just perfect.”

Fans might recall that Metta also competed on the first season of Celebrity Big Brother. Interestingly enough, his journey on Beyond the Edge mirrored his Celebrity Big Brother stint, as he decided to bow out early during both seasons. (While Metta did not quit Celebrity Big Brother, he did ask to be evicted when he was on the block against Brandi Glanville.) Of course, this means that fans will probably have a lot to say after seeing the athlete exit early on both of the shows. However, Metta has a simple message to any of those naysayers, as he said, “Just enjoy the show. Enjoy the show.”