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00:01Just three teams remain in the only competition where the world's most
00:05talented cake and sugar artists join forces with elite pumpkin carvers.
00:10This stuff is all craziness.
00:12And now...
00:13This is my time to shine.
00:14Cake artists push risk-taking to terrifying heights
00:17as they step into the spotlight.
00:19This is the largest cake character we've seen in all the seasons.
00:23I think it's incredibly risky.
00:25I never did something this huge, but why not now?
00:28Only two teams will survive to the finale to fight for $25,000.
00:33This is the top three, and I'm not going home again.
00:36We need to make it to the finals.
00:38We're going to show them that we can make a comeback.
00:40Comeback Queens.
00:41And the stakes have never been higher.
00:44The underkakers, they've always been so close to the top.
00:47We haven't won a challenge yet.
00:50I've been here before, I've done this a bunch, and I don't want to go home without the title.
00:55The semi-finals of Halloween Wars starts right now.
01:08Welcome to the semi-finals.
01:10Poisonous Perfection, Wicked Sculptors, and The Underkakers.
01:14You're one step away from the Halloween Wars finale and the chance at $25,000.
01:21Woo!
01:22Yeah!
01:23In our most terrifying challenge yet, we're stepping in to the ultimate nightmare.
01:28It's creepy.
01:29The Boogeyman's Lair.
01:31Ooh.
01:32We want you to imagine the hiding spot of a Halloween monster and the ghoulish torment they unleash on the victim.
01:39This is terrifying.
01:41I don't like it.
01:42For your tasting element, you'll be assigned a shocking surprise to hide inside a seemingly sweet treat.
01:49Cake artists, you're in the skill spotlight today.
01:52Each victim of your boogeyman must be made entirely out of cake.
01:57You can do it.
01:58It's no secret.
01:59There's only two paths from this point on.
02:01Go to the finale or go home.
02:05Your seven hours starts now.
02:11Go, go, go.
02:13All right, guys.
02:14What do we have?
02:15Okay, we have pumpkin.
02:16Tasting element is pumpkin.
02:19Pumpkin.
02:20So I don't know if you guys looked around, but everybody has pumpkin.
02:25So I have to really make sure that my tasting element is going to stand out from everyone.
02:29No pressure.
02:30But we're in the final three.
02:31I've made it to the finals as a cake artist twice.
02:34Last year, I got real close.
02:36The first season I did, I also got real close.
02:39I don't think that I can describe in words how badly I want to make it through this episode.
02:43I'm thinking this one, I'd like to go a little deeper.
02:47Like what is if the demon was in our head?
02:51Yes.
02:52The boogeyman is something we have within our mind.
02:56So we're making a woman who is in this beautiful hot spring with a deep dark ooze coming out from the back of her head.
03:05So your cake woman is going to have to be fairly big.
03:08Whew.
03:09No pressure.
03:10Nope.
03:11This is the cake spotlight.
03:13All right.
03:14So the victim has to be made entirely out of cake.
03:17Okay.
03:18Okay.
03:19Where would the boogeyman live?
03:20Basement?
03:21Basement.
03:22Under the stairs of the basement.
03:23Yes.
03:24So we're going to have our character walking down into the basement to look at a water heater.
03:29And our boogeyman is grabbing onto him as he's flying down the stairs with a hand reaching out under the rug.
03:36This is the top three and I'm not going home again.
03:39Yes.
03:40So we need to make sure that we make it to the actual finals.
03:43The stakes have never been higher.
03:45Last season I was eliminated in the semifinals.
03:48My team really has to knock it out of the park to make it to the finale.
03:52We're going to show them that we can make a comeback.
03:54Absolutely.
03:55Let's go.
03:56Comeback queens.
03:57If we haven't won one yet.
03:58I know.
03:59So we really got to make this one.
04:00We're going to make this one.
04:01All right.
04:02Starting at the bottom in the first challenge.
04:04Those characters are too big, which makes the story hard to follow.
04:08We've all been evolving each challenge.
04:11I know for me and Marjorie, this is our first competition ever.
04:14I want to make it to the finale.
04:16I know my team does.
04:17So let's start with victim because the victim's got to be the cake.
04:19Man?
04:20Yeah.
04:21Woman?
04:22Kid?
04:23Kid, right?
04:24Because the boogeyman is a kid thing.
04:25But where's it going to be though?
04:27Their room.
04:28Yeah.
04:29We're going to do a kid on his birthday in his room at night.
04:32And he'll have his closet door open and the boogeyman will be coming out of his shadow.
04:37Let's do it.
04:38Let's do it.
04:39Let's go.
04:40Let's go.
04:41Okay.
04:42Let's go.
04:43Yeah.
04:44Here we go.
04:45This is actually a light one.
04:46Now I'm out of breath.
04:47All right, ladies.
04:48We are in the semifinal.
04:50It went so quickly, right?
04:52I think all three teams, it's pretty neck and neck.
04:54There's not a weak team in the bunch.
04:56We're going to be coming down to the smallest of details.
04:59This is not where you want to have your missteps.
05:00No.
05:01You know what I'm saying?
05:02Obviously tonight is the cake spotlight and coming from a cake lady, I am super excited.
05:07I'm also looking for the teams to really work together.
05:10To really seamlessly combine and create something scary and unexpected for us.
05:15The idea that they all have to work with pumpkin, it's rather challenging.
05:19Yeah.
05:20To me, pumpkin can be a rather subtle flavor.
05:22Mm-hmm.
05:23So how do you surprise us?
05:26So we made a huge structure for the head of our characters because there's going to be
05:32something oozing out of the head.
05:34I'm building the face of our woman that's going to be relaxing in our hot spring.
05:41I never did something this huge.
05:43I never did something that was oozing or anything like that before.
05:47But, well, why not now?
05:49It's the biggest head known to man.
05:51It's so huge.
05:55This week is the cake spotlight and we did win the pumpkin spotlight last week.
06:01So we're trying to support Kreen to make sure she can make a really nice sculpted body of
06:07the victim.
06:08And I am currently starting on the boogeyman head out of sweet potato.
06:11I really want to make sure I get in a lot of crevices, a lot of teeth because he's taking
06:17over and wrapping around her brain.
06:19Seems good.
06:20Everybody got pumpkin today for their tasting element.
06:22So, I mean, that makes it a little tricky.
06:24I don't know what everybody else is making.
06:26And I just have to pray to the pumpkin gods that mine is unique and is going to stand out.
06:31So I want to make some sort of sandwich cookie.
06:33It's going to be this pumpkin, pecan, and rosemary shortbread filled with a pumpkin cheesecake filling.
06:40And I think it needs like some ooey gooey center of salted caramel.
06:44We want this caramel to be like this dark ooze inside of our cookie, like the dark ooze coming
06:49out of our piece.
06:50So I'm adding activated charcoal powder.
06:53Charcoal powder doesn't really have any flavor to it.
06:55It's just a natural way of adding a really dark color to something.
06:59Dark, dark ooze.
07:01When you call something short, it means that it's very, very tender.
07:04So there's going to be a lot of fat in there that really makes the cookie kind of want to fall apart and melt in your mouth.
07:11I'm doing a lot of littler things.
07:16So basically I am skinning this guy and I'm going to cut it into chunks.
07:20Marguerite is making a lot of decor in Andy's room.
07:23She's making the toy box, a baseball hat and glove, and a pumpkin pillow.
07:28And I'm going to make the backdrop.
07:30So I'm just going to spread the buttercream on for the backdrop and then I'll start airbrushing the lines for the color scheme of the bedroom.
07:38It is cake spot light this week.
07:40So that's why I'm trying to get this out of the way so I can just focus on every little detail on our character.
07:47Unfortunately, we haven't won a challenge yet.
07:51The underkakers, they've always been so close to the top.
07:54Yes.
07:55They are always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
07:58I always feel for them, Nils in particular, because he's the veteran here.
08:01It's not that they don't do fantastic work.
08:04It's just that poisonous perfection thus far has just outdone them just by this much.
08:10It's very, very tight.
08:12I've been here before, I've done this a bunch, and I don't want to go home without the title.
08:17He's not going home.
08:19I'm going to basically start on the tasting element.
08:21The first thing I got to do is I got to start reducing the liquid out of the pumpkin so you get a lot more pumpkin flavor.
08:26Nils is making a pumpkin truffle with candy ginger, cayenne, caramel with a dark chocolate shell.
08:32All right.
08:33So we're starting to make the caramel that's going to be the spicy caramel.
08:36We're going to hit it with some cayenne, some salt.
08:38The trick is you have to have the spice read through the chocolate, the ganache, and the ginger, and then the caramel.
08:44So what we're really shooting for is you eat it, and then it builds.
08:48This is semi-finals, yo.
08:49We're close, but we're not there yet.
08:51I'd really like to win one, you know, for me and everybody that works for me.
08:55The last two years of my life have been real hectic.
08:57There's been some up-downs, almost died.
08:59Family members pass away, just crazy stuff.
09:01A few summers ago, I had to have emergency heart surgery, and I almost died.
09:05It really changed the perspective of everything.
09:07Family is the most important part for me.
09:10For everybody that's believed in me, it means a lot, you know.
09:13And we're just going to try to bring it home.
09:18Perfect.
09:19Six hours to go.
09:20Six hours.
09:21Oh, my God.
09:23Time's ticking, guys.
09:24Even though our character isn't all that big, he is going to be very expressive because he is falling, and he'll have a scared look on his face.
09:35I had a few hiccups in the past, but I've learned from those experiences, so hopefully we can get that moving and grooving so I'm not tying down my team and we can move this forward.
09:46I am absolutely feeling the pressure.
09:48In the other challenges, my teammates have stepped in to help me finish, but it's a kick spotlight, so I need to get this one done on my own.
09:56When I'm working at home, you know, I'll spend an entire, like, week on just the head, but this is Halloween war, so I have seven hours and I have to make it perfect.
10:05You know, I'm really rooting for Serena in this challenge because she's had a self-confidence problem.
10:13Yes.
10:14So I love that her character is front and center.
10:18This is really her moment to actually show herself what she can do.
10:22We have two legs.
10:23These are ready to two-step.
10:24Good.
10:25I'm ready to two-step into the finale.
10:27Do we want smooth rocks or jagged rocks?
10:32Or a combination of rocks?
10:34Combination.
10:35Because this is a basement, we want our wall to look like cobblestone, so we're cutting up pieces of pumpkin, shaving it down, and attaching it to the back.
10:44We have the wall.
10:46I am working on the tasting element.
10:49Everybody got pumpkin.
10:50That's going to be really difficult to stand out amongst all the other pumpkin flavors, so I have to do what I can to come out on top.
10:57So I'm going to be making a pumpkin churro swirl cake with cayenne pepper, and then I'm also making a pumpkin whipped cheesecake ganache, and we're going to make it look like bones.
11:06Now I'm adding my cinnamon sugar swirl.
11:09I'm really hoping by adding a spicy kick to my tasting element that that helps it to stand out.
11:15Hey, Nils.
11:16Yo.
11:17You got pumpkin too?
11:18Of course.
11:19All right.
11:20Do you have a good plan for it?
11:21Yeah, we're going to make it spicy and pop.
11:23What are you doing?
11:24Oh, I'm going to make mine spicy and pop.
11:26Spicy and pop too.
11:27And pop too.
11:28Okay.
11:29Uh-oh.
11:30I'll just have to see which one pops off more.
11:32We'll see.
11:33Pop, pop.
11:35I have some spices added to my pumpkin churro cake, so I want to kind of cool that down with the white chocolate ganache.
11:42I'm going to be adding pumpkin too, and then I'm going to be whipping that up with some cream cheese later, and it makes for a nice, fluffy cheesecake consistency and flavor.
11:51I'll have to incorporate all the ingredients at the exact right temperature and time to make sure it blends together without the mixture getting too split.
12:04My ganache is grainy.
12:05I'm thinking.
12:06When I drop my ganache in there and start whipping it, the outside edge is solidified, and now there's some cream cheese chunks that are having a hard time blending in.
12:19It's still separated from itself.
12:22I cannot serve this to the judges.
12:24So I'm going to have to start all over again, but I really don't have time for this.
12:30We can't have lumpy whipped ganache.
12:35The ganache needs to be light and fluffy and whipped, but unfortunately, it's just not working, so I'm going to have to scrap that.
12:42But I can't waste too much time on it.
12:45I had to remake this whipped cheesecake ganache.
12:48For the texture, I want it to be very light and airy and whipped.
12:52I'm pretty much almost done remaking it, and then I'm going to assemble.
12:56I really have to make this ganache perfect because I've made it to the semifinals before, and I'm not ready to go home again.
13:03I'm creating these edible bones by hand, which is a little tedious.
13:07What I'm doing is I have little fingers of pumpkin churro cake, and I'm just going to attach that to the ends very carefully,
13:15and then I'm going to drizzle chocolate over this so I can have little bones.
13:19We've definitely grown a lot, and it's really exciting that, you know, the judges gave us another chance to show you how to make it.
13:25It's another chance to show what we really can do, what we're capable of, and I just hope we can bring this whole thing home.
13:31I've finished with a backdrop, and now I'm stacking the cakes.
13:34So because this week is the cake spotlight, I have to make the victim of the boogeyman completely out of cake.
13:41I'm also going to make the boogeyman's body.
13:44I feel like my other characters' time was against us, so I ended up just doing the face the best as I can, but not to my usual standard for me.
13:54I want to make it to the finale.
13:56Being from Guyana, my country's always supporting me. I always see the flags in the comics.
14:00They're all rooting for me, and it just feels so great to come from such a small country where we actually don't even get the opportunity to do anything like this, and I'm not going to let them down.
14:10I don't want to make them too bulky and end up like what happened the first challenge where we made our characters too big.
14:18So right now I am cutting into this pumpkin to help me create some rocks for our backdrop.
14:25So I want some big pieces, some of them that are rounded, will help cover and make a lot of different levels of rocks instead of it all being really flat.
14:34Okay, so I'm making the face right now. I'm making her serene look like she's having a good time at the hot spring.
14:43Karine is doing a remarkable job putting together the woman's face with modeling chocolate.
14:49We are making our victim huge. This is the largest cake possibly ever on Halloween Wars.
14:56That's the biggest piece I've made so far. It's a big challenge for myself, but I'm ready to bring it on.
15:06So Poisonous Perfections is creating a woman who is in a natural hot springs whose boogeyman lives in her brain.
15:13So I think it's going to be really difficult to convey that.
15:17I think it's incredibly risky given that the other two are doing much more literal interpretations of the challenge.
15:23Are they still going to be able to really get that sense of fear and shock and surprise in this very sort of peaceful, serene moment?
15:31She's there. Yes. Awesome. Nice job.
15:34Good job, Green.
15:35Only four hours to go.
15:37Four hours.
15:38Okay.
15:42Okay, switching to isomalt.
15:44We have our character walking down into the basement with one of the recent victims digging itself out of a grave.
15:51To create my skulls, I'm using blown sugar and blowing it directly into my skull mold so it takes on that shape.
15:58I'm blowing an isomalt bubble into a mold and theoretically it should work.
16:03I've never done something like this before and I hope that it doesn't come apart on me.
16:07So we're going to let this cool down and then see if we can get it out.
16:10So hopefully it peels away okay without breaking this delicate bubble.
16:15Hee hee hee hee hee.
16:17And we have a little skull.
16:19He may be dead, but he'll be slaying.
16:22Nils is also making a lot of sugar elements to go into Andy's room.
16:27He's making some cute little cars and he's also making a skateboard.
16:31I have never made a skateboard before, but there is a time and a place to do it.
16:37So the trick here is we're going to have to wait for it to solidify enough to basically try to bend it.
16:42This will give me like a little specific sort of cooling area.
16:46When you do that, it becomes a lot firmer, but it's still fluid underneath if you feel.
16:52I really don't want this edge to run.
16:54I'm the sugar artist. I'm here to deliver.
16:57I'm just going to keep showing up and showing out and try and get to my goal of winning.
17:03Pow, get out of here.
17:06Can't even tell that it's pumpkin.
17:08You can add stonework to your resume.
17:11Yep, masonry.
17:12We're going to have our character walking down into the basement.
17:15We want our wall to look like cobblestones.
17:18Now with Wicked Sculptors, I see some cobblestones.
17:20I see some stairs coming together. Not a lot else though.
17:25Serena's got so much to work on.
17:27She's creating not only the entire body of the character, but the head is nowhere to be found.
17:34So I'm really concerned about that. I know that speed is not her forte.
17:39Okay, Serena, how close are you to switching to the face?
17:42Still need to finish the arm, then we have to get the torso on, attach the arms, and then we'll do the head.
17:48Okay, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to work on the face.
17:52Our team is known for our dynamic pieces and a lot of movement and emotion.
17:57So he's going to be leaning over.
18:00He's also very big at the same time.
18:02So I have to be mindful about the structure, weight, and gravity.
18:06Maybe. Yeah. Nice.
18:10Make sure that we're going top gear speed.
18:14Right now I'm sculpting her body.
18:17She's mid part in the water, so we just see the upper part of her body.
18:22And I'm using ganache, so ganache is stronger, it's going to seize quicker, and she's going to stay there.
18:28Oh my gosh, it is looking so zen.
18:31But there's still so much to do, right?
18:34Oh my gosh. I mean, there's the rest of her torso.
18:36And then they still have this gelatin pool, the gelatin water that she needs to sit in.
18:44So this is powdered gelatin that I'm weighing at, and I'm going to make like a 10% gelatin to water mixture.
18:51And we should be able to create this cool gelatin waterfall coming off the front of our piece.
18:55We're now in the final three, and this is feeling a lot like deja vu, which is nice but scary at the same time.
19:02I've made it to the finale twice, so I know how hard it is to get there.
19:06I know how much work we have to do, and I want to get there, and I want to finally win this time.
19:12And the gelatin just wants to break.
19:16Okay. Well, that's not working.
19:20I'm thinking about how to fix this.
19:24So right now, when the gelatin goes over the edge, it just wants to break.
19:31So we're going to change our plan.
19:33It's the semifinals.
19:34These little things are the things that the judges are going to notice, and then we can get cut for it.
19:40We'll figure this out.
19:42Are we still doing the waterfall?
19:44I don't think so.
19:46What are we doing for the edge?
19:48I don't know.
19:49So plan A didn't work.
19:51Change of plans.
19:52So I think I'm going to use the waterfall pieces more as, like, texture on the water.
19:57Try and put some towards the edge, but not quite over the edge.
20:01So it's the final three, and we are going big.
20:04We kind of went outside of the box with our idea, so we're hoping that it pays off.
20:09Now we have our first layer of gelatin in there, so I'm feeling good.
20:13We've got some water going on.
20:15So instead of having the waterfall cascading over, we decide to just continue the rocks.
20:19Paulina doesn't have enough time to carve more pumpkins, so we just grab some white and black fondant, blend it together, and start lining the front.
20:26So let's just start putting on rocks.
20:31So this is the claw for our boogeyman, and it is really important to make this piece really pop, because the boogeyman is a main component of this story.
20:42Without the boogeyman, why is the person scared? Why is he falling?
20:46So it's a big story element, even though the focus is going to hopefully be on the cake.
20:51So I've moved on to his torso area, because he's leaning forward, so I'm going to be stacking three cakes together, and then cutting it to the size of the cake board we have laid out for his body.
21:01I just hope that Serena finishes up the body quickly and gives herself enough time to really concentrate on the face.
21:09Yeah.
21:10Because she really loves to go in there with details, and we need that here, because this character's front and center, and it's really all about that person. It's really about the victim tonight.
21:19It is absolutely not easy creating a cake character to look like it's falling down the stairs. There's gravity working against you.
21:28I'm trying my hardest to smooth out all of the imperfections on the arms and legs. I need to get on the face as best as I can.
21:35Hey, Serena, are you done with the face?
21:37Uh, not yet.
21:38Can you work on that so I have room?
21:40Serena?
21:41I just need to glue this in, and he's like not hanging on to anything.
21:45Two hours! Two hours to go!
21:47All right, let's go.
21:48We just got to start rolling. Everybody good?
21:50We're good? I'm good.
21:51Good? All right.
21:52I know it looks wild, but it's gonna get better.
21:55This is the cake spotlight. This is my time to shine, so I want everything to look perfect.
22:00So I usually like to make the cheekbones, the brow bones, and the lips first, because it gives you the shape.
22:07Nailing the expression of the face and the body language of the victim was very important, because I do want him to look like he's a little worried.
22:17I always wish that I have more time, because I am a perfectionist.
22:22Oh, that looks awesome!
22:25I think they're quite a bit behind.
22:28It is unusual to me to see Tanisha this far behind.
22:32Yeah, I do wonder if the pressure of wanting to get into the finale is so great that it's getting into her head.
22:39Right now, I have a little, like, shell shape tool, and I'm just pulling it so it makes, like, quick hair texture for a lady.
22:51I'm super excited to be in the show, because I watched it, like, 15 years ago, and I was thinking I'm never going to be able to do anything like that.
23:00And now, look at me. I'm here. It's unbelievable.
23:04This is Corrine's first time on Halloween Wars, and she wants her kids to see her shine and to let them know that if you put your heart into anything, you can do it.
23:14I'm almost there. I only need to paint her now.
23:17We've given Corrine a bit of a challenge, because she is going to leave the top of our lady's head open, not only to put the brain in our boogeyman, but also to put this deep dark ooze that's supposed to come from her head.
23:33We're going to put it at the end.
23:34At the very, very end. Yep.
23:36Jamie's working on her isomalt sugar plants.
23:39Instead of casting it, I was pulling it because it gives it a totally different shine, so when you pull it, you're going to get all this, like, kind of shimmery stuff.
23:47Well, if you pour it, it's just going to be clear.
23:49I'm making some palm leaves out of wafer paper because they're nice and light, and they're going to be sitting pretty high above our piece.
23:55And if they're too heavy, they might fall over and land on something. They might break some sugar stuff.
23:59So these are going to be nice and light and flexible. We've already kind of got these rings going up it, and now I'm just kind of making it look a little hairy.
24:06This is the largest cake character we've seen in all the seasons.
24:12I love the way that these guys do spotlight challenges, and they let that artist have the spotlight.
24:17Yeah.
24:18You've got pumpkin completely surrounding her. You've got gelatin holding her up, and then you've got Karine's character right there in the middle. It's really kind of beautiful.
24:29You started on the face. Yay. Serena is going for a more cartoony character and giving it big, bulging eyes, and she's really trying to highlight that fear in the victim's face.
24:40Make the eyes look that way. This one? Yes. Because then it's directing it toward the boogeyman.
24:49Okay. I'm really nervous because I specialize in hyperrealism, so I'm kind of stepping out of my comfort zone this time around and doing more cartoon characters, quick sculpts to help speed up the time.
25:02So that was something I've been struggling with the last few weeks. I'm hoping to get that across during today's challenge.
25:07I just need to put his hair on, and then we need to get his head up there.
25:12Is that good? Is that far enough out?
25:14He looks terrified.
25:16Teams, this is it. One hour.
25:18One hour. Let's roll.
25:20I am right now going to skin this butternut squash because I think it's almost the perfect shape for the boogeyman's head.
25:28So Marguerite's carving the head of our boogeyman out of Gambadana squash, and she paints the head with some gel food coloring.
25:34We've got a lot to do. A little bit of time to do it.
25:37So at this point, I'm almost done with the head, but I still haven't started our boogeyman. Without the boogeyman, we have no story.
25:45Marguerite, I'm going to need you to build the boogeyman.
25:48This is all new to me. Like, I'm a pumpkin carver. I don't even cook cookies for my grandkids.
25:56Melting the candy melt, cover it.
25:58With a brush?
25:59No, just your hand and paint it on.
26:03And then to put this on the top?
26:05Yep. You put that over it so it'll stick.
26:07This stuff is all craziness. I don't know what I'm doing.
26:11All three of us should be able to get this done and covered in wrists in 30 minutes or less.
26:15Okay.
26:16That's the time limit. 30 minutes.
26:18We are covering the armature for the boogeyman in now candy melt. This is all new to me, so this is kind of fun. Learning all kinds of new stuff.
26:25One of the main reasons I'm here competing is just to send a message to my grandkids that even if the opportunity comes up that you're doing something you're really not comfortable with, to just get out there and do it.
26:35Just stir that until it's melted and then you can paint it on.
26:38Like that?
26:39Just like that. Look at you. Never made a werewolf, makes a werewolf. Never painted chocolate, painted chocolate. Look at you.
26:45Tanisha is so behind informing her little boy character that Margie is stepping in and she's creating the boogeyman.
26:52You better tell me if I'm doing this right or wrong, mister. I don't know.
26:55Yep. Just like that. That is exactly correct.
26:57She looked panicked actually. She's like, I'm not a cake person. What am I doing with this rice cereal?
27:02But I think because they're creating a really tall, super skinny, exaggerated character, it works.
27:12Perfect. Oh, that was right.
27:16Okay.
27:17Hey, Tanisha, how much time do you have on that? Because if we don't get the cake character on, we're going home.
27:22Doing my best.
27:23I know.
27:24I've spent a lot of time on the face trying to make it look perfect, but I'm not going to let them down.
27:30Ready? Here we go. And we're going. I'm going to put her on and then you can rotate her, okay?
27:35Damn. Sorry.
27:36Careful, because it might be chocolate on the bottom.
27:38Yep, you're fine.
27:39Get the floor dirty.
27:40Yep.
27:41We got to get everything on and then start detailing.
27:4330 minutes on the clock.
27:44Oh, my God.
27:45Oh, my God.
27:46He looks terrified.
27:48Tastings.
27:49We just need to work on a hand reaching out under the rug.
27:53What are we going to hide it with?
27:54We're going to rumple the carpet and then we're going to put bones around it and dirt.
27:57Okay.
27:58They are, in the last couple minutes, adding a hand that's going to move.
28:03That's beautiful.
28:05Every time this head thing moves.
28:08I'm trying my hardest to smooth out the details of the modeling chocolate fondant, but I'm having a lot of trouble with it because the modeling chocolate is getting too cool.
28:18I'm feeling disappointed because I know I can do better.
28:22Doing the best we can.
28:2415 minutes left.
28:26What?
28:27We're running out of time.
28:29Uh, concentrate on her face.
28:31Maybe give her, like, Shinman's going to want this to be clean.
28:34Yeah.
28:35Yeah.
28:36No.
28:37We do still need to put the brain in our boogeyman and have this deep, dark ooze that's supposed to come from her head.
28:44This ooze effect is just going to be done with some corn syrup and food coloring, which is kind of super classic Hollywood style to create, like, blood and things like that.
28:54We've got a pump hidden inside her head to make the ooze flow that'll be hidden underneath the boogeyman.
28:59Is it supposed to cover the hole entirely, like, squish it in?
29:02Uh, yeah, you can.
29:03He's taking over the brain.
29:06Where are we putting his head?
29:07Just in the back is fine.
29:09Okay.
29:10Do we turn this on and put it in there right now?
29:12What?
29:13We need to get the ooze going as soon as possible.
29:16You need to place it under...
29:18Now it's, like, sealed in.
29:19Uh.
29:20Okay.
29:21Did you let the holes open under there?
29:25Over where?
29:26In the head.
29:27Did you leave the holes open?
29:28In the head.
29:29Yeah, I didn't do anything to them.
29:30Okay.
29:31Yeah, but I mean, like, how is it coming out?
29:32It's...
29:33I don't know.
29:34They're around them.
29:35That's not gonna work?
29:36I can't get it out because it's all sealed in now.
29:38I...
29:39This is horrible.
29:40The pump is blocked.
29:42We can't get it fixed and we're just gonna have to cut it.
29:45It is what it is.
29:46Uh, for right now, just get all the details and...
29:48But I wanted to know where to put a shadow for the hand.
29:51We are just trying to finish.
29:52Get everything nice, neat, tight.
29:54Get everything on the board.
29:56Make it happen.
29:57Time is really running out.
29:59I have to get the shadow down because without the shadow,
30:02the boogeyman creeping into Andy's room would not really make sense.
30:06I'm just gonna add the shadow
30:08with some black airbrush
30:10and then I'll build it up around his foot with buttercream
30:13just to make it look like he's coming up out of his shadow.
30:17It needs more.
30:18If you step back, it needs more.
30:20It really is a bit of a nightmare.
30:21It is.
30:22The major two characters are done
30:24and yet it still looks a bit empty.
30:26This team has had so many ups and downs with proportions.
30:30Now we have two that are actually too small for their display.
30:33The backboard, I think, was just too big.
30:36All right, we're gonna see if we can make this happen.
30:38Nils is usually not this stressed.
30:41You can see the pressure building on his face.
30:43He is pulling sugar frantically like...
30:45We have time?
30:46Let's go.
30:47We got a little bit of time left, but it feels a little bit empty,
30:50so I'm gonna make balloons.
30:52Just gotta stand.
30:54It's so hard to stand when you know you gotta move.
30:57It's the last minute, so we have no time for mistakes
31:00and anything breaking at this point.
31:01Because he needs that pop of color, otherwise he's gonna feel kind of flat.
31:05All right, so just make sure it doesn't slide off.
31:07One minute!
31:08One minute left!
31:09This is it!
31:10Here we go.
31:11There's a little empty hole right there.
31:12God, dude.
31:13Let me see.
31:14Okay.
31:15How are the rats?
31:16Another string?
31:17Yep.
31:18I need a buttercream bag.
31:19Ten!
31:20Nine!
31:21Let's go.
31:22Eight!
31:23More moss.
31:24More moss.
31:25Seven!
31:26Four!
31:27You too, you.
31:28Three!
31:29Get your details going.
31:30Two!
31:31One!
31:32Time's up!
31:33Oh, my goodness.
31:34We're done.
31:35That was rough.
31:37Yeah.
31:46Poisonous perfection.
31:47What horror are you hiding here?
31:50Our seemingly carefree and relaxed woman is sitting here in a hot spring,
31:55and you don't really see what's hiding inside.
31:58For a lot of people, the boogeyman is actually their own mind.
32:02Our lovely woman is made out of cake.
32:04Our boogeyman is pumpkin.
32:07The rocks are all pumpkin.
32:09We have lovely sugar work leaves.
32:11And the palm tree is wafer paper and modeling chocolate.
32:16I completely get this environment.
32:19And cake, Lady Corinne.
32:21I can't believe you haven't competed properly before because this is the largest cake character that we've seen maybe perhaps in all the seasons of Halloween Wars.
32:33And with a big giant cake like that, usually, you know, the big risk is big disaster.
32:38But she's holding steady and she's absolutely gorgeous.
32:41You've got your pumpkin, you've got your sugar work, you've got your cake, you've got modeling chocolate, rice cereal, all of that stuff.
32:46But I don't see any of that because they blend so well into one environment.
32:51This is such a fresh, unique take on this theme.
32:57Corinne, we've watched you push yourself week after week.
33:00And then you're peeking at just the right moment, it seems, for the cake spotlight.
33:05This is gigantor.
33:07But in a challenge where she's supposed to be terrified and feel trapped by it, I just don't feel like she's terrified.
33:15Not yet.
33:16And what did you make for us to eat today?
33:18I have made a pumpkin pecan rosemary shortbread.
33:22And it's a sandwich cookie filled with a pumpkin cheesecake and also a dark salted caramel ooze inside of it.
33:30The rosemary keeps this whole thing from eating too sweet, which really is something when you think about a pumpkin challenge.
33:36Pumpkin, check.
33:37Rosemary, check.
33:38The dark ooze that you were promising us, I wanted a little more of that.
33:44But good job.
33:46It's not the most memorable treat that I've had from you, but you've definitely met the challenge.
33:50Poisonous perfection.
33:51Thank you very much.
33:52Oh, my goodness.
33:53Good job, girls.
33:55You did great.
33:57Under Cakers.
33:58Today is Andy's sixth birthday, and unfortunately for him, it has come time for his least favorite part of the day, going to sleep.
34:05He was thinking he would leave his closet open with the light on, but he didn't realize that it would cast the perfect shadow for the boogeyman to come up out of the shadows and congratulate him on his sixth birthday.
34:17We've got the cake, Andy, the boogeyman's made out of cereal treats, modeling chocolate, and the head is carved out of pumpkin.
34:24There's a bunch of pumpkin toys and sugar toys.
34:27Tanisha, that little boy, there's something about the way he's telegraphing that fear to all of us that I think really draws us into the whole thing.
34:36Margie, team player yet again, girl.
34:40The fact that you, for the first time perhaps, worked with Rice Cereal Treat, why not do it on a national television show?
34:46I mean, that's a good place to do it.
34:48Great molding.
34:49Great jumping in.
34:50This face.
34:51You've got those deep, hollowed out eyes.
34:54The mouth that is there, but almost sewn together and melting at the same time.
34:58Great job there.
34:59Tonight is the cake spotlight, and the fact that you have him sitting crisscross applesauce.
35:05You've done such a great job in expressing fear.
35:08You're expressing a six-year-old boy's just absolute nightmare.
35:12There are so many beautiful sugar work, but they're not completely taking the spotlight.
35:18In fact, I think they're maybe a little too hidden.
35:21What'd you make for our treat?
35:22Everybody got pumpkin, so I'm going to give you pumpkin with a punch.
35:26So what I made is a pumpkin truffle.
35:29It has a cayenne caramel, candied ginger, and then a pumpkin ganache in the base.
35:34And it's a dark chocolate shell, so it's not too sweet.
35:37I feel like all the flavors were like at a five-second interval from each other.
35:42Because you gave us something that looks exactly like what you would find at a beautiful chocolatier shop.
35:47But I did not expect this to kick me in the butt, and it did.
35:50These are gorgeous.
35:51They are so shiny.
35:53There's that perfect snap when we take a bite out of it.
35:56The thing that I'm not tasting is the pumpkin.
35:59Okay, so Nils, these are gorgeous.
36:02I love the heat in the center, but I feel like maybe the heat and that dark chocolate and that ginger, the pumpkin just doesn't stand a chance.
36:10Under Cakers, great job.
36:17Oh my goodness.
36:19I'm surprised you didn't taste the pumpkin.
36:21I tasted it right after that.
36:22Yeah, me too.
36:23Wicked Sculptors, tell us what horror lies in your boogeyman's lair.
36:29Jerry has always been afraid of the dark.
36:32His roommate that he hasn't seen in a while warned him not to go into the basement.
36:36And his worst fear became a reality.
36:39Jerry's made completely out of cake.
36:41Our boogeyman made out of entirely pumpkin.
36:44The skulls and the water are sugar work.
36:47And our rug is made out of modeling chocolate as well as the hand.
36:50The most impressive thing about your display is just this body language that you have on your main character.
36:57I love the expression on his face.
36:59I love the fact that the eyes are popping out like this because he's so terrified.
37:04Some great sugar work there, Emily.
37:06The blown sugar skulls.
37:08I watched you work on that and it's perfect.
37:11Rebecca, your boogeyman is horrific in the best way possible.
37:16Today, Serena is your cake spotlight.
37:18You've come so far from day one.
37:20You get the sense of like, oh my gosh, he really is about to lose it.
37:24I will say that I think the finishing, it looks a little rough in his hands, in the details of his shirt and his jeans.
37:31I think that if you'd had like another couple of hours, you could have made this the way that you envisioned it.
37:37What'd you make for us to eat today?
37:38We have a spicy pumpkin churro cake and that is covered in white chocolate.
37:43It does have a bit of a spice kick to it.
37:45So I do like a little churro swirl in there.
37:48It has cinnamon sugar.
37:49It has a bit of cayenne and a touch of peppercorn.
37:58Okay, so I definitely taste the pumpkin.
38:02I definitely am getting that spice, which I am happy about because I do love spices.
38:08But I think this might be too spicy for most people.
38:11So it's overwhelming the whole bite for me.
38:14I think the combination of the cayenne and the peppercorn is sort of hitting me in the same place.
38:18And so I'm getting fire, unfortunately.
38:20But the pumpkin flavor is really lovely.
38:23Like you really paid respect to the pumpkin.
38:25Wicked Sculptors, thank you.
38:27Thank you guys.
38:29Great job, guys.
38:30You have a great job.
38:31High five.
38:32This was our toughest challenge yet.
38:39But one team rose above the rest by driving us into the depths of a truly demented and surprisingly secretive layer.
38:48The winner of this challenge and the first team headed to the finals is...
38:56Poisonous Perfection.
38:57Oh, my God.
38:58Stop.
39:03The spotlight was on cake this week.
39:05And it's scary how successfully you delivered, Corrine.
39:10Nice job, too.
39:11Under Cakers and Wicked Sculptors.
39:14You both created boogeymen that gave the judges goosebumps.
39:18But with a semifinal this good, who stays or goes will come down to the smallest of details.
39:24Under Cakers.
39:26We saw you struggling in the last minutes of this challenge to finish.
39:30But you didn't let that boogeyman of time keep you from delivering a beautiful display.
39:36But the scale was off.
39:38And while we loved your sweet treat, I was missing the pumpkin.
39:43And Wicked Sculptors, the dynamic action, and bright colors of your victim really make a statement.
39:49For this challenge, the boogeyman is in the details.
39:53And this piece is missing some of that finishing that we expect in the semifinals.
39:57And while you nailed the pumpkin flavor, the spicy surprise had us sweating a little too much.
40:03This decision wasn't easy.
40:07The team that won't be competing in the finals is...
40:11Wicked Sculptors.
40:13This actually meant a lot to me.
40:29It meant a lot to try again.
40:31I really wish I would have gone further.
40:35Um...
40:37I don't know.
40:41Oh my god.
40:45Oh my god.
40:52Sorry.
41:02Congratulations, under cakers and poisonous perfection.
41:08We'll see you next time for the Halloween Wars finale.
41:12Poisonous perfection? Watch out.
41:16Next time...
41:17I cannot believe we are here. It still feels like a dream.
41:20The Halloween Wars title and $25,000 is on the line.
41:26Jamie and Nels have been here two, three times.
41:29Yeah.
41:30They both won it so bad.
41:31And only one of them can win.
41:32And I love a good competition.
41:36It's a moment of truth.
41:37We want to go big and bold.
41:39Oh, here they go.
41:40Oh jeez.
41:41One, two, three.
41:42Stop.
41:43Remove that.
41:44What's that noise?
41:45I really want it.
41:46I want to go home with the win.
41:47We know that we have the skill to take this home and win Halloween Wars.
41:51Oh!
41:52Oh my god.
41:53Oh no.
41:54The wizard fell.
41:55Oh my god.
41:56Everything is going wrong and nothing is going right.
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