In case you haven’t heard, VH1 is debuting a new reality series tonight. This time, there’s no dating game or gritty substance abuse - there’s just Diddy.

VH1’s I Want to Work for Diddy premieres tonight at 9pm ET. In this season opener, thirteen strangers (who answered the national wide cattle call VH1 put forth) will be welcomed to Bad Boy (the seat of Diddy’s empire) where they will be interviewed by a panel of Sean John’s most trusted employees. To get to Diddy, the contestants have to get past the panel.

In the show, Diddy (Sean Combs, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, so on and so forth) is searching for a new personal assistant - someone to be at his beck and call and see to his needs 24/7. The cast includes a student, an Iraq war veteran, a personal trainer who likes dancing, a legal assistant, a writer who is a Harvard graduate, a few professional office assistants…and one transvestite.

If you just can’t wait until tonight, VH1 is offering a video preview of the first episode here.

In the trailer, Diddy talks at length about his work habits and what he needs from his employees. “When I’m workin’, I’m a machine,” he explains to cameras, saying “this show is about people following a dream.” Nothing like coattail celebrity to draw in the masses.

The show largely features the three who help head Diddy’s Bad Boy empire: Capricorn Clark, who started as his assistant and is now a marketing manager; Phil Robinson, in charge of day-to-day operations; and Kevin Liles, an executive vice president for Warner Music Group.

Each one-hour episode will show the competitors facing challenges that will test them mentally, emotionally and physically. As Diddy bids in the trailer, “come work for me if you want to.”

Okay, so obviously it’s The Apprentice with a little bit of hip hop flavor. This probably isn’t the first time or the last that VH1 has “borrowed” a reality concept from a competing network. It’s a somewhat stale idea, and I’m not sure even Combs can make it seem new and fresh. My question - is anyone interested in people who want to work for Diddy? Being the personal assistant to any celebrity is a tough job, and Combs has many far-flung business interests. But to liken fetching and carrying for a star to some sort of “dream job” is a bit of a stretch - which isn’t to say that the show won’t be entertaining. It does, after all, feature Sean Combs.