Food Network is kicking off the spookiest month of the year with some fun competitions. "Halloween Wars" will have contestants competing against each other to see who can make the most outrageous and realistic Halloween-themed masterpieces that are almost too scary to eat, while "Halloween Baking Championship" will focus on fully baked treats featuring Halloween staples like blood, candy corn and pumpkins. From edible roaches, to life-like cakes that look like zombies, to cupcakes shaped like ghosts, the contestants on these two shows will be producing completely edible creations that look good enough to be part of a haunted house and send chills down your spine.
Season 5 of "Halloween Wars" premiered on Sunday night, and the five teams and host Rossi Morreale came ready to scare. As we've seen since season 1 of the hit show, each team is composed of a pumpkin carving expert who makes pumpkins nearly unrecognizable, a cake artist who can somehow create life-sized monsters out of just batter, and a sugar artist who will spend hours perfecting tiny yet unbelievable creatures out of just sugar. Each episode consists of two gruesome challenges, a Small Scare where they only have 45 minutes to create a Halloween-themed design, and a big battle, the Spine Chiller, where they have five hours to come up with humongous presentations that are simply perfection. The judges this season are cake decorator Shinmin Li, makeup artist Brian Kinney and a rotating panel made up of Robin Atkin Downes from "The Strain," Benjamin Papac from "The Walking Dead," Bex Taylor-Klaus from "Scream" and Elvira, aka Cassandra Peterson.
In Sunday night's episode, titled "Infestation," the five teams - Spell Binders, Scream Team, Morbid Morticians, Gore Mayhem and 2 Ghouls and a Guy - created mind-blowing life-size rooms taken over by all kinds of bugs and rodents. There were edible centipede eggs, banana-habanero chocolate cockroaches, coconut tapioca-filled chocolate spiders, mouthwatering mice and spicy cherry brownies, and the judges were extremely impressed with the outcomes. Even host Morreale was left a little frazzled after trying these realistic treats.
"In some cases, maybe you were supposed to be eating a roach and there was that crunchy kind of outer shell that you literally felt like you were eating some sort of creature - but at the same time it was always delicious," Morreale told Zap2it. "You know, that's when you get a little bit messed up in your mind. It looks creepy, it feels creepy and then it tastes good. Like, what do you do?"
Scream Team won the Small Scare challenge with its best representation of one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The team created a pumpkin man splitting at the seams, and the team members were praised for their impressive paint job. Morbid Morticians ended up winning the Spine Chiller challenge with their creation of a couch potato-type person sitting in a hotel room filled with roaches. Morbin Morticians struggled a little at first but were able to work together and come out on top.
Prior to the show, Food Network caught up with the teams to find out their biggest fears going into the competition. "I'm excited! I guess it's kind of like watching a scary movie," Renay Zamora of Morbid Morticians said. "I'm going to see how far I can go before I dive under that blanket." See how they compete against the rest when "Halloween Wars" airs Sunday nights at 9pm EDT on Food Network!
While "Halloween Wars" definitely tackles the scarier sides of the holiday, "Halloween Baking Championship" covers everything from fear to tradition to fun. This is Food Network's fourth series in its Baking Championship franchise, and it's set to be just as huge of a hit just as the previous ones, according to The Inquisitr. The goal of this competition is to come up with the most creative and disgusting-looking treats to really get you in the mood for the holiday. Instead of teams made of experts in certain areas, these seven contestants, whom they're calling the Seven Deadly Bakers, are known for their mouth-watering treats in their own hometowns. "Halloween Baking Championship" is hosted by Richard Blais and judged by Ron Ben-Israel, Carla Hall and Sherry Yard. From a self-taught mother of five, to a world-traveling executive pastry chef, to a professionally trained baker who adds a savory twist to all his desserts, this show is bound to show us some impressive sweets that will have viewers dying to make their own versions at home.
While the previous "Baking Championship" shows have shown intricate details and beautiful presentations, this Halloween-themed version will go above and beyond. "More is better when it comes to blood and gore," Ben-Israel told Food Network. "Save the delicate touch for Easter. I'm looking for creative ways to cut the sweetness of candy and 'frighten' me with intriguing flavor profiles."
In Monday night's premiere episode, the judges will test the bakers' skills in a pre-heat challenge where they will be asked to create Halloween cupcakes "using iconic trick-or-treat candies, including candy corn, peanut butter cups and lollipops," according to the Food Network Blog. In the main heat challenged, they will be asked to bake a dessert that represents a classic Halloween costume like a ghost, witch or mummy. "Each week the bakers can look forward to more spooky twists and turns on the road to the freakiest finale," the blog continues.
"Bake tasty treats, don't overthink the tricks! And, most important, have fun," Blais said as his advice to the competitors. "It's only a matter of 25,000 bones! And. Life or death." As for what he's looking for from their desserts, he wants to see some "visually thematic" treats. "Something not over-sweet that I want to eat and continue to eat after the first bite!" he explained.
Check out this spooktacular baking competition Mondays on Food Network at 9 p.m. EDT!