VH1 took a rather lengthy break between seasons six and seven, which debuts this evening at 9 p.m.

Part of the problem: it’s hard to get celebrities on the show, period.

“We get our fair shares of polite no’s,” said Jim Ackerman, the executive producer, in an interview Friday. “Some clicks of the phone. But we do get solicited from people as well.”

The cast this time around is not exactly blinding with real star power. (In other words, nobody is showing up at a Grammy, Emmy or Oscar awards show anytime soon.).

The biggest gets were Kevin Federline, Britney Spears‘ ex, and his baby’s mama Shar Jackson (top left), who would prefer to be known as the former star of “Moesha” but is saddled with the K-Fed connection. “Train wreck!” uttered “High School Musical” actress Kaycee Stroh, when the other celebs find out the pair are together on the show. “A pop culture boner!” cracked “Project Runway” season one winner Jay McCarroll.

Ackerman said they nabbed Jackson first. K-Fed was a bit tougher. “He had turned us down at first,” he said, despite rather alarming tabloid photos of Federline’s expansive waistline. “After his marriage with Britney dissolved,” Ackerman said, “he was at a very low point in his life. He got depressed and turned to food. He got heavy very very fast.” A last-ditch effort by Ackerman convinced Federline that it was time to lose some weight. “I look like a pregnant man,” Federline said during the show.

Jackson is in a tough position because she wants to get out of the shadow of K-Fed but I’m not sure being on a show with him will help her in any way (especially given how large a shadow he creates literally.)

Another fun to watch contestants: former Atlantan and frequent reality show participant Bobby Brown (second to left). I’ve been with the AJC for eight-plus years in the features department. He never submits to interviews. But he’s always entertaining on TV, if you recall “Being Bobby Brown” with his ex Whitney Houston or CMT’s “Gone Country,” where he sleepwalked on occasion and became “Odd Couple” buds with “Brady Bunch” star Maureen McCormick.

There is a financial incentive: $50,000 for the person who loses the most percentage of body fat plus percentage of body weight lost (defined as Fit Factor). And $200K in cash and prizes for the winning team. That isn’t enough to draw anybody who is making real big money but for folks like this, cash is cash. Every week, the celebs are subject to two days of “boot camp’ with Walden in spare barracks. Brown is not bugged.

“It’s easy compared to being in jail,” Brown said on the show.

But he’s going to have a tough time if the first episode is any indication. He fails to climb up to the top of the obstacle course because he’s scared of heights. (”I don’t like going over bridges – in a car.”) And given the choice between baked chicken and fried chicken, he chose… both.

“There were times when he felt like he was phoning it in,” Ackerman said. “But sometimes, he was super invested.” He noted that Brown also has a fear of dogs he has to face later on.

He starts the show at 199 pounds with 26 percent body fat: “I have no excuse for you how I got this big. I’m determined to be better.” Walden wants him to lose 20 pounds in eight weeks and get his body fat down to 21 percent.

Ackerman  said there are no Dustin Diamonds this time around, no clear villains.

He said Skid Row singer and reality show vet  Sebastian Bach needs to grow up but has “a great sense of humor.” “Baywatch” star Nicole Eggert, the thinnest of the crew, was “super super competitive.” Tanisha Thomas of  “Bad Girls Club” fame is the mouthiest and most likely to bite back at Walden. Plus, at 240 pounds, she has the highest percentage of body fat — almost 50 percent. “I’m like three Nicoles,” said Tanisha.

The most endearingly funny is McCarroll, who lost his dad to diabetes and doesn’t want to follow in that path:

“I can’t accessorize with camouflage pants,” said McCarroll.

“I have the upper body strength  of a newborn baby,” McCarroll quipped later.

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