Meet the maybes: possible Celebrity Big Brother contestants

"Quick! Follow that bandwagon!" Lembit Opik was once best known for dating a Cheeky Girl. Soon he could be almost as famous for appearing on Celebrity Big Brother. Note for uninterested readers: he is also a Lib Dem MP Photograph: Martin Argles

"I used to be in the Sugababes. No, seriously." It's Mutya Buena in classic "I would buy a round but it feels like I've forgotten my wallet" pose Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/Guardian

It is 21 years since Paula Hamilton appeared in that classic Volkswagen TV ad. You remember, the one where she chucked away her wedding ring, pearl necklace, mink coat – very 80s, that one – but kept the keys to her VW. "If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen," was the payoff line. If only everything in reality TV was as reliable as Celebrity Big Brother Photograph: MJ Kim/MJ Kim

"I'm on one long-running hit Channel 4 show. Am I about to appear in another long-running hit Channel 4 show?" It's Tina Malone as Mimi Maguire in Shameless Photograph: Channel 4

Altogether now! "Power and the money, money and the power. Minute after minute, hour after hour. Everybody's runnin', but half of them ain't lookin'. What's goin' on in the kitchen, but I don't know what's cookin' ... " Yes, it's Coolio, whose hits include Gangsta's Paradise and, er ... Photograph: Yui Mok/Press Association

Pop quiz: in which of these soaps has actor Sherrie Hewson appeared? Emmerdale, Coronation Street, or Crossroads? It's a trick question! Answer: all of them Photograph: Carlton Television

Singer Bobby Brown leans in to make sure the top of his head isn't cut off in this picture of the singer in a Massachusetts courtroom in 2007. He once had his own reality series, imaginatively titled Being Bobby Brown, and was married to Whitney Houston. If Houston ever appears in Celebrity Big Brother, it is fair to assume the sales of her last record haven't gone well Photograph: Nancy Lane/AP

Singer Ben Adams (second from left) in 1999 with his former pop group, A1. Adams would not be the first member of a band named after a major transport route to compete on Big Brother: Zak Lichman (AKA Ziggy) finished in fourth place in Big Brother 8 - he could formerly have been found in the boyband Northern Line Photograph: Rex Features

Actor Verne Troyer is best known as Mini Me from Mike Myers' Austin Powers films. No word yet on whether any of the Celebrity Big Brother housemates will be "fembots". Maybe Jo O'Meara was one. Or Danielle Lloyd Photograph: Scott Gries/Getty Images

"Yes, I'm gonna be on Celebrity Big Brother. Hang on, what's Celebrity Big Brother?" Ian Wright celebrates scoring a goal for Arsenal in 1992 Photograph: Simon Bruty/Getty Images

Unlike her sister Janet's infamous appearance at the Superbowl, LaToya Jackson is not suffering a wardrobe malfunction. This is what her outfit is meant to look like. She is pictured in Hollywood in 2003 Photograph: Fred Prouser/Reuters

Note to readers of the Daily Star and Nuts magazine: This is what glamour model Lucy Pinder looks like with her clothes on Photograph: Doug Peters/PA

Michelle Heaton knows all about reality shows, having triumphed with Liberty X on ITV1's Popstars. It was a bit like The X Factor but with ... Well, it was a bit like The X Factor Photograph: ITV

From the looks on their faces, Johnny Vegas (on the right) has just told Paul Daniels he will one day be on Channel Five's The Farm, and Ulrika Jonsson she will appear on Celebrity Big Brother. He got Daniels right. Will he do the same with Jonsson? Also pictured in this 2002 episode of BBC2's Shooting Stars: a pint of Guinness Photograph: Brian Ritchie/BBC

Should former Starsky and Hutch star Paul Michael Glaser turn up in Celebrity Big Brother, a bunch of bananas to the first housemate who asks him "Where's your chunky cardigan, buddy? I thought they were hilarious." Glaser is pictured with his co-stars David Soul and Antonio Fargas Photograph: John D Mchugh/AP

Once famous for a show in which members of the public made fools of themselves to get on the telly, former Word presenter Terry Christian is now tipped to be on a show in which celebrities ... make fools of themselves to get on the telly. How the world of television has moved on Photograph: Channel 4

If Tommy Sheridan is half as good value as the last Scottish politician to appear on Celebrity Big Brother, George Galloway, then he will be very good value indeed Photograph: David Cheskin/PA