Published Wednesday, 09 June 2010
Steve, 40, from Leicester, was injured by a bomb in 1989 and lost both of his legs as well as an eye.
He now wears a black glass eye which his kids love as he looks like a pirate.
Steve says he chooses to wear shorts exposing his metal legs.
"I purposely walk around looking the way I do. It's better to be open about who you are."
Despite his disability, sporty Steve is a transatlantic yacht racer and recently took part in the Royal Ocean Yacht Race with an amputee crew of ex-servicemen personnel, even though he cannot swim.
He is also a volunteer coach for wheelchair basketball.
Steve has been unemployed for the last 20 years but would never want to be behind a desk - he is more of an outdoorsy type. He feels very strongly about, and lobbies for, soldiers who have been injured.
He lives with his second wife of 14 years and has eight children.
The group of 13 housemates, chosen from a pool of more than 80 hopefuls, also include Caoimhe, a feisty student, 22, from Dublin, who lives at home with her mum and dad.
She is desperate to leave home and the suburbs so that she can go out more.
As a child she claims to have been an ugly uni-browed loner, but aged 20 she went to live in Spain for two years - and came back more mature and fluent in Spanish.
She says she could fancy a woman but claims to be great at seducing men, saying: "I just strut my stuff and heads turn."
Caoimhe is currently seeing someone - but says it is going nowhere.
A Beyonce lookalike, a squatter who lives on discarded food, a born-again Christian minister and a bisexual Katie Price doppelganger with a 30G bust also entered the Big Brother house on Wednesday night.
Contestants learned they had been successful live on TV during the launch programme hosted by Davina McCall.
Six men and seven women were chosen to take part in the 11th series of the reality show, which is being dropped by Channel 4 after this summer. Each is aiming to make their mark and enjoy their few weeks in the spotlight with the hope of riches and fame.
As usual the show will have its twists. Unknown to the intake of wannabes, the winner of the series in 11 weeks' time will then immediately take part in a further two-week series featuring all-stars from previous shows.
And on launch night, along with the main 13, a further housemate was selected - by tombola - to secretly take part in the series as a "mole".
The extra contestant - 28-year-old Mario Mugan from Essex - will be set secret missions and will have to live undetected - despite being dressed as a mole. If they are discovered they will be ejected from the show.