A soldier who had a leg amputated after being blown up by a landmine in Afghanistan has turned down the chance of being on Big Brother.

Despite getting through the first two auditions for the hit Channel 4 show, wounded squaddie Carl Clowes said “no thanks” when he was invited back for the third session.

Carl, of Bolton, Bradford, said: “I’ve been through so much stress and pressure in the last few years that I just don’t think I could do it.

“I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a house with people for ten weeks who I might not like. It would be too intense. It’s the last place I’d want to be.”

The 23-year-old, who was one month into his first tour of Afghanistan when his armoured Land Rover was blown up in the notoriously dangerous Helmand Province, also said he feared he could have been set up by the show-makers.

He said: “You don’t know what Big Brother might do or who he’d put in the house.

“They could have been looking for a soldier and then put in an anti-war protester. I just wouldn’t want to be in that situation.”

Carl, who served with the Royal Logistic Corps, is pushing ahead with rebuilding his new life. He has now passed his passenger service vehicle driving test which means he could drive for a job.

He said: “It’s what I did when I was in the Army and it’s what I could do again.’’ Carl is waiting to hear what compensation he will now get from the MOD for 18 other injuries.

He had already been compensated for his three most serious injuries but a recent review of the Armed Forces Compensation scheme now means he will get a pay-out for all the rest. He said: “It’s fantastic news.’’ Two years ago Carl, who was 19 when he signed up as a gunner driver, had to be airlifted to the UK for treatment to shattered bones in his lower body, cheek and jaw.

He spent 14 weeks in the military-managed ward of Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham with his jaw wired and a tube in his throat to help him breathe, before being transferred to Headley Court – the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, near Epsom, Surrey.

Within a month, he was able to walk with the aid of crutches. But as his right side healed during ten months of gruelling treatment he was told he had to lose his left leg below the knee. He has since had an artificial leg fitted.