Flo Rida's performance at iHeartRadio's Jingle Ball Detroit brought good feelings out for Flavor Flav, surprising the crowd as Flo's hype man and running into an old friend backstage ... his 'Flavor of Love' Season 1 winner Nicole "Hoopz" Alexander!!!
The animated rap legend joined Flo for "Club Can't Handle Me" ... which ended in jolly fashion with Flo being carried off stage by a beastly Santa Claus.
A rep for Flav tells us he still has one more stop on the iHeart Jingle Ball Tour after making cameos in both Detroit and L.A.
As for his reunion, we're told Flav follows Hoopz on social media and loves watching her updates, but he hasn’t seen her in person in years ... neither planned on running into the other at the Jingle Ball.
As you can see in the video, the two were excited to hang -- they remixed the song "Hey Mickey" to insert Nicole's name in the lyrics ... a little inside joke from their past.
Hoopz beat out Tiffany "New York" Pollard back in 2006 to win VH1's trendsetting series ... a fruitful union that lasted to the show's next season.