‘Celebrity Big Brother’ rumors: Ray J, Heidi Montag / Spencer Pratt, and Stevi Ritchie

With the start of the latest season of “Celebrity Big Brother” now just a single day away, doesn’t this feel like the right time to really start having fun with some of the latest (and greatest) casting rumors?

Before we dive too far into this hot mess, the first thing to remember here is that producers seem to be angling for some sort of fans vs. favorites twist, where new players face off against people already familiar with being in the house and some of the insanity that comes with it. Here are the names that we’ve heard discussed at length, who many of our readers in particular may be familiar with.

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt – Our relationship with them as viewers remain contentious. They’ll do some things that we find incredibly entertaining, and then at other times they’ll come across as extremely petty and annoying. All we know about them for certain is that they love fame, so seeing them back (which is all but confirmed at this point) is not surprising at all.

Ray J – Why? Because the producers of this show would cast Kim Kardashian’s toenail if they could. They are so desperate to get someone connected to the reality superstar that they’ll cast the guy only tried to her at this point because of a certain “tape” that was made so many years ago — one that many credit with throwing her into the limelight in the first place.

Stevi Ritchie – He’s a name we discussed briefly yesterday when talking about possible “X Factor” connections to the show, but he’s starting to heat up now as a candidate after being seen at the same hotel as many other contestants. It’s certainly possible that he just decided to stay there to get people talking about him; given the nature of many of the celebrities on this show, it’s very difficult to rule something like that out at this point.

So long as Farrah Abraham and Gary Busey aren’t back on the show, we’re going to be happy. The majority of the other contestants are not people we’ve really heard of, anyway.

Is there anyone that you want or don’t want on this “Celebrity Big Brother” season? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! (Photo: Channel 5.)