Can Zak Bagans Save Season 11 Of ‘Halloween Wars’?

If you've ever turned on the Food Network during spooky season, chances are you've seen a glimpse of a crazy culinary creation that looks more like a movie set piece than a work of food art.

"Halloween Wars" first made its debut on the Food Network in 2011 and is the seasonally themed sister series to the popular "Cupcake Wars" and “Cake Wars.”

Although the series has had small twists and changes to keep it fresh over its decade-long run, the format has usually been consistent...until now.

“Halloween Wars” pits a team of cake sculptors, sugar artists, and pumpkin carves against one another in an elimination-style competition to win $50,000 dollars.

The format usually consists of two rounds. The first round features the “Small Scare” in which teams have three minutes to create a design based around a theme, such as killer toys. The winner of the “Small Scare” gets an extra assistant or the first pick of a pumpkin going into the second round.

The second “Spine Chiller” round gives the teams five hours to create a large, immersive sculpture based on a different theme. Teams must also create a “tasting element” like a truffle or small candy that they can display along with their masterpiece.

However, with this year’s pumpkin shortage brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the pumpkin carving component of the show has been axed, turning the show into an hour-long baking competition, similar to "Halloween Baking Championship," which also appears on the Food Network.

Fans have not been happy with the change in formatting this season, and especially with the lack of pumpkin carving, a classic Halloween tradition.

“They RUINED Halloween wars,” one fan tweeted. “Just another baking show now. It was a tradition my son and I watched each October and now I just deleted the whole season from DVR. What a bummer! Bring back the PUMPKIN CARVING!!”

Another shared, “the newest season of Halloween Wars sucks. The pumpkin carving was the best part and now it is gone. Boooooooooo!!!! Bad decision powers that be.”

Instead, "Halloween Wars" has brought in "Ghost Adventures" paranormal investigator Zak Bagans to host the show, taking over from Jonathan Bennett, who hosted the show from 2016-2020.

Each week, Bagans displays a cursed item from his haunted museum in Las Vegas, which contains “30 spooky rooms and winding corridors in a reputedly haunted 1938 mansion.” The museum is said to hold haunted and possessed items, such as the Dybbuk box, Bela Lugosi’s mirror, and even Jack Kevorkian’s “Death Van.”

Cake artist Shinmin Li, who has been with the show since its first season, has returned to judge. Joining her are two new judges: winner of season 6 of “The Food Network Star” AartiSequeira and former football cornerback Eddie Jackson.

It remains to be seen if Zak Bagan's spooky antique collection will be enough to salvage season 11 for fans, who have their fingers crossed that pumpkin carving will return for season 12.