Exclusive: Food Network Host Jeff Mauro's Near-Death Finger Incident on 'Holiday Wars'
‘Holiday Wars’ host Jeff Mauro narrowly avoided a gruesome mishap during the filming of Food Network's 'Sandwich King', where he came dangerously close to losing his thumb Don't miss his heart-pounding story of survival!
Jeff Mauro's journey on Food Network had a challenging and painful beginning. After winning season 7 of Food Network Star in 2011, the 45-year-old Holiday Wars host landed his own show, Sandwich King. During the filming of his first episode, the then-head of programming flew to Chicago to watch. Recounting the incident, Mauro stated, "I was chopping cilantro with a brand new, super-sharp, beautiful knife and I misjudged it. When I swiped the cilantro off the knife, I also took off some of my thumb."
The injury caused the entire set to shut down production, Mauro explained. "Someone's like, 'Find the thumb,' you know, not the whole thumb, but like, 'Cauterize it. Get it on,'" he recalled. "But we had to seriously shut it down for hours to kind of wait for the bleeding to stop. And then, for continuity, you couldn't have a Band-Aid. It's a whole thing that I learned about."
The lesson the chef took from the incident? "If you are going to cut yourself, make sure it's the first take of the day, not the last one," he joked.
The head of programming, who was on set, reassured Mauro by sharing that he wasn't the only star to have a cutting board mishap. "They said, 'You know, Rachael Ray cut her finger on her first day, first take, first episode of her show,'" Mauro told Us.
After this on-set mishap, Mauro hosted Sandwich King from 2011 to 2014 and went on to appear on several other cooking shows, including Guilty Pleasures, Cooks vs. Cons, Chopped, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Beat Bobby Flay, and Worst Cooks in America. He also cohosted The Kitchen from 2014 to 2022.
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Bringing festive joy to the Food Network, he is set to take on the role of host for season 5 of Holiday Wars. "When you tune in to any of these cooking competitions on Food Network, you'll see nothing quite like the magnificence of these sometimes 7-foot [sculptures]," he excitedly revealed.
The competition series features teams of cake and sugar artists competing to create holiday-themed displays. Mauro teased that the remaining teams are really pushing the boundaries this week, with more detailed characters and the added bonus of getting to eat it all. In addition to hosting the show, Mauro is preparing to host "70-something people" for Christmas, joking about not having a mansion and needing to find a local venue to accommodate everyone.
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In the midst of the family commotion, Mauro revealed to Us that he takes pleasure in revamping his Christmas Eve menu each year instead of adhering to the traditional Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes. "We'll have shrimp. Maybe some salmon. We always have fried shrimp, but I like to mix it up," he explained. "I might do Mexican food on Christmas Eve, or Greek, or even go for the classic Americana with fried chicken and mac and cheese. It keeps things interesting for me to create a new menu instead of repeating the same old dishes. And if anyone complains, they're out."
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The season 5 finale of Holiday Wars airs on Food Network Sunday, December 17, at 9 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
