'Buddy vs. Christmas' Wrapped Up Filming Right Before Buddy Impaled His Hand

Pastry chef, star of Cake Boss, author, and son of legendary Carlo Valastro (who founded Carlo's Bakery, home of the iconic rainbow cake), Buddy Valastro is back with more epic cakes. Buddy vs. Christmas, a four-episode special, premiered on the Food Network on Nov. 22, just in time for holiday festivities.

In this Christmas-themed competition, Buddy and his baking team go up against big-time non-food artists, like a glassblower and a LEGO builder to create festive baked goods. Expect life-size gingerbread houses and action figures for the ultimate Christmas baking show.

"As the Cake Boss, Buddy has mastered the creation of gigantic, life-sized, and incredibly realistic cakes. Now, viewers will be captivated as he takes on his most difficult challenge yet by competing against master builders and expert crafters — its cake creations vs. real build designs on Buddy vs. Christmas," the Food Network announced.

"Audiences will be stunned by the remarkable Christmas designs in each episode, with all their spectacular details and special effects, making each one more impressive than the last."

You might be wondering: When was Buddy vs. Christmas filmed? Considering COVID-19 restrictions and surges across the country, it wouldn't be possible for the series to have been filmed recently. Plus, although these shows are pretty scrappy when it comes to production, it still takes time to shoot and edit a series — not to mention that these cakes take a long time to make.

Another interesting thing to note? Buddy's hand looks totally normal in the series, which gives us a major hint as to when the show was filmed.

According to the press release, Buddy vs. Christmas was filmed before Buddy's hand injury, which occurred in September 2020.

On Sept. 23, Buddy posted to Facebook, "I was involved in a terrible accident a few days ago...What do you think of my new accessory?" The press release reads, "The cake designs on Buddy vs. Christmas were some of the last cake's Buddy constructed, as the series was filmed prior to a recent accident at his home, where his right hand was impaled, and he was rushed into emergency surgery."

Most seasonal shows are filmed months before their premiere, with or without a pandemic. For instance, Halloween Wars was filmed months before Halloween in Los Angeles, where it can get up to 100 degrees in August and September. In fact, the setting is so off, if you were on set, you'd smell the difference. 

"You want it to smell like your pumpkin spice basic girl latte. It does not smell like that. It smells like burnt sugar and — you know when you have like, a pumpkin once you carve it and it's kind of not refrigerated anymore and it starts to smell a little funky? Well, picture hundreds of pumpkins smelling a little funky," host Jonathan Bennett shared.

If Buddy vs. Christmas was filmed where Cake Boss is filmed (Hoboken, N.J.), then Buddy probably didn't have as many weather problems (good thing, too, since we can't imagine what warm weather would do to a life-size gingerbread house).

Watch Buddy vs. Christmas on the Food Network every Sunday at 10 p.m. EST.