Food Network gets into Halloween spirit with largest offering yet, featuring all-new series, specials & returning favorites to help viewers eat, drink and be scary

New series ‘Outrageous Pumpkins,’ and new seasons of ‘Halloween Baking Championship,’ ‘Halloween Wars’

Plus, specials ‘Halloween Freakshow Cakes,’ ‘Halloween Wars: Legends,’ ‘Worst Cooks in America: Halloween Redemption’

Food Network delivers thrills and chills dedicated to the scariest season of them all with almost 35 hours of thematic programming – the most ever – featuring out-of-this-world Halloween-themed showcases and sensational works of edible artistry. Food Network is getting viewers into the Halloween spirit with new series “Outrageous Pumpkins,” returning seasons of “Halloween Baking Championship” and “Halloween Wars,” as well as specials “Halloween Freakshow Cakes,” “Halloween Wars: Legends,” “Road to Halloween Wars” and “Worst Cooks in America: Halloween Redemption,” along with themed episodes of recurring series.

"Food Network has been the go-to destination for Halloween through the years, offering programming that showcases edge of your seat, nerve-wracking competitions with mind-blowing Halloween creations that viewers have come to expect and love," said Courtney White, president of Food Network. "With new series like ‘Outrageous Pumpkins’ taking the action out of the studio, along with returning favorites like ‘Halloween Baking Championship’ and ‘Halloween Wars,’ this season is sure to deliver all the frights and delights fans are hoping for."

On Sunday, Sept. 13 (8 p.m. ET/PT), “Road to Halloween Wars” returns to highlight the next talented crop of pumpkin-carvers, cake and sugar artists, set to compete on the new season of “Halloween Wars.” Witness how these Halloween warriors train in the weeks and months before the competition begins, and catch the new season premiering directly after on Sunday, Sept. 13 (9 p.m.). Host Jonathan Bennett returns to challenge six teams made up of an expert pumpkin carver, a cake artist, and a master sugar artist, as they create frighteningly fun and intricate edible displays over five episodes that are spooky as they are tasty. Their creations are judged by award-winning cake decorator Shinmin Li, horror film special effects master Todd Tucker, and a rotating panel of celebrity guest judges, including Guillermo Díaz (“Scandal”), Jocelin Donahue (“Insidious: Chapter 2”), Marisol Nichols (“Riverdale”), Katie Sarife (“Annabelle Comes Home”) and Jeremy Ray Taylor (“IT”). The last team standing takes home $50,000.

For the first time ever, three teams composed of reigning “Halloween Wars” champions face off against each other to see who will be victorious in the two-episode special “Halloween Wars: Legends,” airing Sundays, Oct. 18 and 25 (9 p.m.). Each episode features the returning champions competing in Halloween-themed challenges that feature twists and turns at every corner, as the teams aim to impress judges Li and Tucker with their amazingly spooky Halloween displays for $20,000 and ultimate “Halloween Wars” bragging rights.

New series “Outrageous Pumpkins” premieres Sunday, Sept. 13 (10 p.m.). In this four-part series hosted by Alyson Hannigan, a traditional Halloween pastime is taken to the next level as seven expert pumpkin carvers compete at an outdoor pumpkin playground for the title of “Outrageous Pumpkin Champion” and a sweet $25,000 Halloween treat. Each week the carvers compete in two outrageous challenges that test their creativity and pumpkin prowess as they sculpt gravity-defying scenes that celebrate Halloween, with puppeteer and artist Terri Hardin and master pumpkin carver Ray Villafane judging their every move.

Ten talented bakers from across the country compete to create terrifyingly tasty treats on the new season of “Halloween Baking Championship,” premiering Monday, Sept. 14 (9 p.m.). Hosted by Carla Hall, the competitors nerves and skills are tested like never before as they bake their way through a haunted house brimming with challenges through seven episodes. Judges Stephanie Boswell and Zac Young join Carla to determine whose devilishly delicious desserts earn $25,000 and the title of “Halloween Baking Champion.”

Four former “Worst Cooks” recruits come back to “Boot Camp” in the new Halloween special, “Worst Cooks in America: Halloween Redemption,” premiering Sunday, Oct. 11 (10 p.m.). Chefs Anne Burrell and Carla welcome back the culinary hopefuls for a shot at redemption, as they must learn how to make a holiday spread for the scariest night of the year – Halloween. The recruits start by making a dish using a mystery ingredient they have been assigned; after Anne and Carla pick their teams, the chefs will teach them to make a buffet for a Halloween gathering. In order to win a kitchen upgrade worth $5,000 and bragging rights, the recruits must impress a panel of culinary experts, including a whole party of Halloween fanatics.

Get into the Halloween fun on the four-episode series “Halloween Freakshow Cakes,” with double premieres on Sundays, Oct. 18 and 25 (10 p.m.). In each episode of this one of-a-kind cake showdown co-hosted by Vivian Chan and Zac Young, three sinister cake artists step into a side-show tent to whip up the freakiest cakes imaginable. The baker who showcases the most wildly imaginative and hair-raising cake design wins $10,000 and the title of “Halloween Freakshow Champion.”

For more seasonal fun, viewers can also look forward to Halloween-themed episodes of “The Big Bake,” as well as special themed episodes of “Delicious Miss Brown,” “Girl Meets Farm,” “The Kitchen” and “The Pioneer Woman” in Food Network's weekend daytime lineup.

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