5 Years Before $1000 Confession, Shaquille O’Neal Was Crowned Best Publicist for Super Popular American Show

A guilty viewing pleasure in the ’90s was not watching rookie Shaquille O’Neal terrorize his rivals. It was the dramatic stories featured on Maury. For O’Neal, the TV icon had a whole other appeal. Shaq has spoken about his obsession with the show so often, he’s the 7’1″ walking billboard for it. In the recent episode of The Big Podcast, Shaq added a pricey disclosure to his Maury Povich fanaticism. “Every morning at 10 a.m., we’d wake up with thousands of dollars and we’d watch The Maury Povich Show,” Shaq told his co-host, Adam Lefkoe.

The Big Aristotle then revealed what they would do with the money. “And we’d make bets on who the father is…Every day. So, like, we watch it, we let them talk, and then we pause and then we pull that money out. ‘I’ll bet you a thousand he’s not the father!’ So, that was my thing.”

His bestie, Charles Barkley, bets on NFL teams. Shaq bet on a running theme of The Maury Povich Show. In reality, O’Neal is a big fan of the veteran news anchor. In fact, he was left starstruck just by his voice.

It happened in the early incarnation of The Big Podcast way back in 2018. O’Neal was simultaneously filming for Big Chicken Shaq, the Facebook series documenting the launch of his fast-casual dining business. Thanks to the show, we saw the Big Aristotle frozen in shock that Povich had called into his show.

When Povich finally made Shaq believe it was his voice, O’Neal said, “Oh this is Maury.” Povich had heard of O’Neal talking about his show enough times to thank him for it. “You are my man, you are my best promotion,” disembodied Povich told him on the show.

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Shaq would narrate the same story about anticipating paternity results on Maury without mentioning the $1000 bets then. Since O’Neal gave Povich a lot of publicity, the TV star returned the favor too.

Maury Povich meets Big Chicken Shaq

Big Chicken Shaq has 300+ locations in development nationwide and multiple units slated for a 2024 opening. Before entering the franchising business, it was a Shaq-owned business with the first restaurants in Las Vegas.

With a reality series to complement it, O’Neal seized the opportunity to have Maury Povich promote the show using the same joke that had him cracked for years. “Hey Shaquille! It’s Maury Povich,” the legend himself said at the end of the episode.

“It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for… the results are in and you are the father of what is sure to become the best chicken restaurant in Las Vegas,” Povich quipped. We know Shaq didn’t lose any money betting on these results.

READ MORE: Shaquille O’Neal Lost $2500 to Dana White’s Female Fighter in Sweaty Octagon Battle on the Big Chicken Series (2018)