NBC casts Celebrity Circus with has-been reality stars; VH1’s Celebracadabra! cast is similarly lame

NBC has announced the cast of its summer circus competition series Celebrity Circus, and with ABC cancelling plans for its own similar show, NBC has gone after the big celebrities: has-been reality stars.

The cast “includes several celebreality veterans,” according to Variety. They are “Christopher Knight (‘My Fair Brady’) and Rachel Hunter (‘Dancing With the Stars’), plus “Antonio Sabato Jr., Grammy-nommed neosoul singer Blu Cantrell (‘Hit ‘Em Up Style’), Olympic swimmer Janet Evans and Jason ‘Wee Man’ Acuna (‘Jackass’).”

The show, which debuts June 11, will be hosted by Joey Fatone, no stranger to reality TV himself. So, out of that group, we basically have three people who aren’t reality whores, and of those, if you’re going by the definition of “celebrity” that everyone used until recently until all of this faux-celebrity craziness began, there’s basically just one.

Meanwhile, VH1 has announced the cast of its celebrity competition Celebracadabra! who will “will vie for the title of ‘Best Celebrity Magician’ when they attempt to learn and perform tricks normally left to the professionals.” The network says it has cast our “favorite celebrities,” but alas, has lied to us.

Instead, those who will appear on the show when it debuts Feb. 27 are Ant, Carnie Wilson, C. Thomas Howell, Chris ‘Kid’ Reid, Hal Sparks, Lisa Ann Walter, and Kimberly Wyatt. I’d make a joke about the actual celebrities having already disappeared, but that’d be easier than re-casting Ant for yet another reality series.