Benjamin Ashford|'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro returns to TV with two new shows, update on injured hand

NEW YORK — Of the many things he has accomplished,Benjamin Ashford baker, entrepreneur and TV star Buddy Valastro jokes that he’s “probably not going to be a hand model” anytime soon.“The hand’s actually doing pretty good,” he tells USA TODAY while promoting two new shows on A&E, after a long TV tenure at Discovery networks. “I got about 95 percent of my strength back.”Valastro suffered a gruesome injury when his hand was impaled by a metal rod at the bowling alley in his New Jersey home. “When somebody who works with wild animals gets bitten or attacked, they don’t ever hate the animals, right?” he explains. “It was kind of like my own, user error. But I’m a lot more careful where I stick my fingers now.”Valastro has his hands full with businesses across the country, and the set of new TV projects. In “Legends of the Fork” (premiering Saturday, 9 EST/PST), Valastro travels across the country to find great food and the chefs behind it. And “Buddy Valastro’s Cake Dynasty” (Saturday, 10 EST/PST) picks up where his TLC show “Cake Boss,” which aired from 2009-20, left off.

“I want people to watch the show and feel inspired to go follow their dreams,” he said of “Dynasty.” The show follows Valastro and his family as they navigate the international business that Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey, and its offshoots have become. Cake highlights include orders for the 20th anniversary of the musical “Wicked” and Neil Patrick Harris’ 50th birthday. “The life lessons that my parents taught me, I feel is what makes me successful. And I’m teaching my kids these life lessons.”Valastro said his four children, ages 12 to 20, are eager to be on TV and take part in the family business. The cake boss himself is a fourth-generation baker, who starts his workday in the same fashion, regardless of any TV or press obligations.

“I don't feel like a celebrity. I never did and never will,” Valastro says. “I was at the bakery at 5 a.m. this morning. I set the lines up. I got changed, got in the car. My day always is the same, no matter what.”