At a Glance
- Buddy Valastro completed his fifth and final hand surgery on October 14, 2024
- The celebrity chef has “good functionality” but still can’t raise his middle finger
- Valastro’s hand was impaled by a metal rod in a 2020 bowling alley accident
- Why it matters: The injury threatened his baking career, but he’s back to making cakes and TV shows
Buddy Valastro is sharing a major milestone in his recovery journey. Three months after his fifth and final hand surgery, the celebrity chef has updated fans on how his injured right hand is functioning.
The 48-year-old Cake Boss star underwent his last operation on October 14, 2024, marking the end of a four-year medical journey that began with a horrific accident in his home bowling alley.
The Accident That Changed Everything
In September 2020, Valastro was fixing a malfunction with his home bowling alley’s pinsetter when disaster struck. The machine had been giving him trouble, and he’d reset it “a hundred times” before.
This time, he looked away for a moment. His hand got pinned. A metal barb pushed right through the middle of his ring finger and middle finger. He was stuck in the machine.
Within five minutes, help arrived. His eldest sons, Buddy Jr. and Marco, along with his brother-in-law Joe Faugno, freed him using pliers and a saw. The injury was severe enough to require five surgeries over four years.
The Recovery Journey
Valastro’s recovery has been documented through multiple surgeries and countless hours of rehabilitation. The October 2024 surgery was meant to be his final one, and the results show significant improvement.
“Alright, so we had surgery on October 14th and I gotta say my hand, I think, looks pretty good. Not bad, right?” Valastro said in an Instagram video.
He demonstrated his progress by wagging his fingers around. “I got, you know, I could move it. I got good functionality.”
The improvement is remarkable considering the initial severity. After the accident, Valastro worried about his future. “I have a thing with my hands. If I get a paper cut on my hand, I’m pissed off. My hands to me are my lifeline of everything I do,” he told News Of Losangeles in 2020.
He questioned whether he’d ever regain his former abilities. “And I wonder, ‘Am I ever going to do what I used to be able to do?'”
Lingering Effects
Despite the successful surgeries, the injury has left permanent marks. Valastro points out that one finger remains slightly crooked, though he jokes it’s because he’s “OCD.”
More notably, he’s lost one specific ability. With visible effort, Valastro attempted to raise his middle finger in the video. “I still can’t do it, if I get it started,” he said, using his other hand to try pushing the finger up. “No, I can’t do it still.”
“But that’s what happens when you stick your hand in a bowling machine where it doesn’t belong. I learned the hard way,” he concluded.
Back to Business
The injury hasn’t slowed Valastro’s career momentum. Since 2020, he’s released several shows on A&E, including:
- Legends of the Fork
- Buddy Valastro’s Cake Dynasty
- Multiple appearances on Buddy vs. Duff against fellow confectioner Duff Goldman
He continues baking at Carlo’s Bakery and recently created Guy Fieri’s son Hunter’s wedding cake for his August 2025 wedding to Tara Bernstein.
In his Instagram caption, Valastro thanked the doctors and hospital staff “for their care and dedication” throughout his recovery process.
Key Takeaways
- Valastro’s hand was impaled in a 2020 bowling alley accident
- Five surgeries were required over four years
- His final surgery in October 2024 restored most functionality
- He retains one permanent limitation: inability to raise his middle finger
- Despite the injury, his baking and television career continues thriving
