Orange News reports that the puppet master behind Sooty has issued an apology to magician Paul Daniels for striking him in the eye with the Italian delicacy.

While Folklaw was quite shocked at the news that there is a puppet master involved (we had never really contemplated that Sooty wasn't actually real), the fact that the TV magician suffered a black eye after the pizza struck him in the face came as an even bigger shock (given that Sooty's arms are about as long as a matchstick and it appears that he may not even have elbows).

Richard Cadell, who operates the puppet, said, "Sooty's very sorry for what happened. He never intended to knock Paul out, but he hopes Paul enjoyed the pizza. He didn't know his own strength - but no one can accuse Sooty of having a limp wrist".

Daniels was apparently filming a scene for The Sooty Show with wife and assistant Debbie McGee when the airborne-pizza-in-the-eye incident happened.

In the first take of the scene, the 73-year-old magician said Sooty had not thrown the pizza hard enough and requested that he give it another go.

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Obviously taking the constructive criticism on board, Sooty mustered all his puppet strength and hurled the pizza straight into Daniels' face, with enough power to require that Daniels take a diversion on the way home.

"I got pizza in my eye, it stung, so on the way home that evening I called into a local village hospital. I am fine," said Daniels in a radio interview.