Guy Fieri is recovering in a wheelchair after suffering a serious leg injury while filming his upcoming Food Network series, Flavortown Food Fight.
The celebrity chef told Fox News Digital on Monday that he “slipped down a set of steps” on set, causing a dramatic fall that tore his quadricep muscle “in half.” Fieri explained that “one foot went forward and the other foot got caught on the threshold,” leading to the freak accident.
The 57-year-old was rushed to the hospital, where doctors were stunned by the severity of the injury. According to Fieri, the attending physician said he had not seen a similar tear in the “biggest, thickest” part of the leg in more than 20 years. “You normally tear that muscle at your tendon or the tendon tears off the bone, but this was right in the center of the whole quad muscle — and it exploded,” Fieri recalled.
He was immediately taken into surgery to prevent the muscle from “receding.” The accident happened while the entire production team — about 125 people — was on set and ready to film, forcing the show to quickly adjust. “We figured out how to pivot through it and to have some creative filming techniques,” Fieri said. “But it’s been a run.”
Since the operation, the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host has been moving around using crutches and a wheelchair. Doctors have instructed him to stay completely off the leg. “I can’t walk on it for eight weeks,” he said. After that, he will get a cast and begin rehabilitation, which he hopes to start “as fast as possible.”
Fieri did not reveal the exact date of the accident, but said only that “it sucked” and put a major “damper” on his plans.
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With Thanksgiving approaching, his eldest son, Hunter, is stepping up to lead the holiday cooking. Hunter jokingly texted his dad that it’s his “time to shine.” Fieri said his youngest son, Ryder, and his nephew Jules are also skilled in the kitchen.
“It’s gonna be me quarterbacking from the wheelchair and telling them what to do,” he said. “We cook for about 40 people up here. So it’s going to be … an adventure.”
Fieri shares his sons Hunter, 29, and Ryder, 19, with his wife Lori, whom he married in 1995. The chef has previously said he doesn’t plan to leave his children an inheritance unless they “get two degrees.”
