Central Ohio has three people to root for on Food Network this week. Two professional pumpkin carvers from Columbus are in the cast of the new Halloween Wars season, and the pastry chef at a downtown hotel is one of the ten bakers on Halloween Baking Championship. The shows premiere on back-to-back nights, Sunday, Sept. 13 and Monday, Sept. 14.
Halloween Wars: two Columbus carvers on opposite teams
Halloween Wars Season 16 premieres Sunday, Sept. 13 at 9 p.m. ET on Food Network with a two-hour episode. The theme is “Back from the Dead,” and all seven teams are made up of people who have competed on the show before. Jonathan Bennett is back as host, Shinmin Li and Andrew Fuller judge, and the winning team takes home $30,000.
Brian “Tator” Edwards, a professional pumpkin carver based in Columbus, is on Team Howlers. Food Network’s bio credits him with two prior seasons of Halloween Wars.
David Smith, also a Columbus pro carver, is on Team Boo Crew. Smith is a world-champion ice sculptor as well, and he was on the winning team of Halloween Wars: Hayride of Horror, a 2017 spinoff. NBC4 interviewed both men and put their combined national TV appearances at 15.
Since they’re on different teams, the two Columbus carvers will be working against each other at some point this season. Ohio has one more carver in the field: William Wilson of Cincinnati is on Team Creepers.
Halloween Baking Championship: a Hilton Columbus Downtown chef
Halloween Baking Championship Season 12 premieres Monday, Sept. 14 at 9 p.m. ET, also with a two-hour episode. John Henson hosts, and the season is set inside a fictional Museum of Unnatural History. Ten bakers compete for $25,000.
Kyle Olson is one of the ten. Food Network lists him as an executive pastry chef based in Columbus. He is the pastry chef at the Hilton Columbus Downtown, the High Street hotel that houses FYR. This is his first time on the show.
How to watch
Both shows air on Food Network. Halloween Wars premieres Sunday, Sept. 13 at 9 p.m. ET, and Halloween Baking Championship premieres Monday, Sept. 14 at 9 p.m. ET. Food Network says episodes of both series stream the next day on HBO Max.
If two hours of pumpkin carving leaves you wanting the real thing, Franklin Park Conservatory’s glowing pumpkin display returns in October, and the fall festival calendar has plenty of carving contests of its own.
