“Cake Boss” star Buddy Valastro is recovering at home after a “terrible accident.”
Valastro, the owner of Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey, made famous on his baking reality show, shared a somber Instagram photo of himself lying in a hospital bed while holding up his heavily bandaged right hand on Wednesday.
“What do you think of my new accessory?” Valastro, 43, lightheartedly captioned the photo, referring to his cast.
Carlo’s Bakery’s spokesperson Michael Ciullo told USA TODAY that the famed pastry chef’s hand was repeatedly impaled by a “metal rod” Sunday during a “malfunction with the bowling pinsetter” at the bowling alley in his New Jersey home.
“After trying to release the bowling pin from the cage mechanism, his right hand became lodged and compressed inside the unit,” Ciullo said in a statement. ”Unable to remove his hand, he can see a 1½ (inch) metal rod slowly and repeatedly impale his hand three times between his ring finger and middle finger.”
After Valastro had been trapped for five minutes, Ciullo said the chef’s teen sons, Buddy Jr., 16, and Marco, 13, used a reciprocating saw “to cut through the metal rod and relieve (their) father from the machine.”
Valastro also shares daughter Sofia, 17, and son Carlo, 9, with wife Lisa Valastro, 45, who regularly appears on “Cake Boss” alongside Valastro and his extended family.
The television personality has since had two surgeries on his hand and was released from the hospital on Wednesday.
“It will be an uphill battle as it’s Buddy’s dominant right hand and he will need prolonged recovery and therapy,” Ciullo added.
The food industry rallied around Valastro and sent their best wishes.
Duff Goldman, a fellow pastry chef who appeared with Valastro on the competitive baking show “Buddy vs. Duff,” wrote, “Get better homie. You’re gonna need that hand.”
Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse replied, “Get better quick my friend!”
Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” judge Alex Guarnaschelli commented, “Those hands are a national treasure and so are you! Get well soon.”
It’s not clear how the injury will effect Valastro’s ability to create the cake masterpieces that have been featured on “Cake Boss,” which premiered on TLC in 2009.
Read more at usatoday.com
