Bob the Builder was really Bob Ross!

Can we paint it? Yes, we can!

More respect to Bob Ross (RIP). I have all my digits and I still don't balance a paint palette very well.

The carpentry accident was just a cover, he lost the finger to that squirrel he took in from the wild. Further proof that you can't ever trust a feral squirrel, no matter how long they've been domesticated.

Bob Ross was career Air Force he retired as a Master Sergeant after 20 years.

That guy was the best. I had no idea that my grandparents are buried about 100 yards from his grave. (TBF, they were there first.)

Did he hide it or did it happen to not be shown because it was behind the paint palette?

Another happy little accident

"Uh oh, looks like I cut one of my fingers off. Better go ahead and cut another one off. That way it can have a friend. Everyone deserves a friend."

Just speculation but given the calming atmosphere he was trying to create on the show, he probably intentionally hid it as to not upset the viewers

Imagine Bob at the time of that accident: "FUCK! Fuck! Goddammit! Fucking piece of shit saw!" (kicks it across the job site)

I guess it wasn't a happy little accident to him.

Great NCO terrible carpenter.

Beloved ex-carpenter that spent his life dedicated to preaching a message of love and acceptance? Real original, Bob.

I’ve noticed this in the show.

Wouldn't imagine so, no

Also TIL: HIS HAIR WASN'T naturally CURLY HE PERMED IT BECAUSE OF POPULARITY!!!!

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Similar to how Gary Burghoff hid his arm behind Radar's clipboard

I’m gonna go to Woodland Memorial park and visit your grandparents now

I’m sure they’d enjoy the visit.

Well, I just chopped off my finger. Just a happy little accident. I'll put it right here in this bag of carrots. It's a carrot now.

"My mistake. Those were my gardening gloves."

It was originally done that way to keep production costs of the show down. Then it became part of his image and he kept it.

If not that then the percentage of thumb he was grew after the (happy little?) accident.

That sounds a lot like a Germany or Florida question

Well, just like Jesus, it’s a good thing Bob had something to fall back on, because they were both terrible carpenters.

... How would having his hair like that keep production costs down, exactly?

Perm is short for Permanent. They don’t have to use curling irons every day. Obv you’ve never gotten a perm, and may not know anyone who has, they aren’t very popular anymore. Despite the name, you still have to get a perm redone from time to time tho

I don't know, you'd have to ask someone that was affiliated with the production. But that's the reason why, guess it was easier to just style that way.

I must say I’m terrified of the thoughts that must reside within the heads of the most successful carpenters, and pray their talent keeps them well-compensated and pacified.

I'm sitting here watching Ross rn and saw this. Had NO clue.

His talent as a painter was in that finger.

🎶 Things are sick and twisted from too much sun and Nazis. Sex, meth, and death fetishes, both of them have got these. Guaranteed not to bore ya, it's Germany or Florida 🎶

He did it when he was poor. Had nothing to do with the show.

I still love to watch Bob Ross, and when I need to calm down or take a nap I turn on The Joy of Painting and let his soothing voice lull me into cozy dreamland. I stream it on a free app called Xumo which has no loud, annoying commercials to interrupt the calming tone set by his voice and brush strokes.

Brings a new deeper meaning to the phrase for me.

My grampa worked with him and my family has a bowl painted by him, it's pretty kewl

Ooooooo! The intro and credits music is what always wakes me up, does Xumo cut that out?

No, but I keep the volume turned down a little and it's not as bothersome. Still wakes me up sometimes but it's 100 times better than watching it on a streaming platform with commercials.

Cool, thanks!

Jesus, if historically a singular real person, was probably a stone mason, as domiciles were not built out of wood, but stone at the time.

Nah that's when he started painting. "Now this happy little accident has given us some nice red ochre" he says, as he picks up his finger and starts brushing it on a canvas

I saw some documentary about him on Netflix or something, he just liked styling his hair all kinds of different ways.

No need for haircuts or styling

Yeah but the crucifix trade was booming...

James Doohan, Star Trek's "Scotty" was also missing a finget that was shot off during the Normandy landings if WWII.

A neighbor of mine lost his thumb saving a dude at work. Ended up being a very happy accident because he was the type to never visit a doctor. Turns out his thumb had a skin cancer, that he was just going to ignore. Problem solved and he got a free beer from the dude he saved.

Said neighbor had a great sense of humor though.

James Doohan lost a finger during WW2. He managed to hide it for most of the three Seasons he played Scotty on Star Trek. Only in a handful of scenes could you tell if you were paying attention

Oh, he had a job to supoort himself. I assumed he had a job just for funsies

Takes a special paramedic to see a thumb lying on the floor, say "hey, that looks like cancer on it," and drop it off at Dermatology on the way out.

i’m sure the internet can get us a count for how many times he showed us that missing finger

Or you know, it was brought in for re attachment, which spare body parts goto pathology. Where the doctors who actually look at the cancerous cells during a biopsy work.

It's definitely visible if you know to look for it. I don't think he consciously tried to obscure it.

All of the people calling his losing a finger a "happy little accident" and making fun of it are just plain cruel.

Bad taste.

He hid that gnarly cocaine shovel on his pinky too, at least on PBS. It's right there on the VHS instructionals.

Maybe it forced him to double down on being a legendary artist? Could be seen as a "happy accident" in that sense.

The poor man’s Jerry Garcia. /s

Bob had anger management issues!

Too soon.

OK I'll ask - What was wrong with his arm?

My bad, hand not arm. From wiki: "He studied tap dance and became a drummer, despite being born with brachydactyly caused by Poland syndrome, which made three fingers on his left hand significantly smaller than those on his right hand."

Thanks, I had not heard about that.