Idaho Today lives for the beginning of fall, and Food Network has many shows celebrating the season, including the Outrageous Pumpkins all-star season with host Damaris Phillips. Our host, Mellisa Paul, got to speak with Damaris before the premiere, where we learned how folks can turn their carving skills into an opportunity to win a $50,000 purse. As usual, Damaris Phillips always brings the fun "down home" as the cash prizes and challenges have never been bigger.
This week begins our fall season, where the leaves are turning, and the sight of the familiar orange pumpkins are stacked all over town. The Food Network always celebrates the seasons and features a fun competition where carving, not cooking, is the test.
Host and longtime Food Network star Damaris Phillips will oversee a cast of fourteen of the country's best carvers returning to the competition. This time, the carvers are matched up in teams of two people. They are challenged to create over-the-top carved and sculpted pumpkin creations, described as " gravity-defying structures to mechanical monsters" with special effects.
This premise is no trick, as the prize is a large cash treat: $50,000!
Halloween is approaching, so the jack-o'-lantern competition has never been more intense. Damaris and her judges will decide who walks away with the cash as elite duos compete to take home the first-ever title of Outrageous Pumpkins All-Stars Champions (season five). The show can inspire home hopefuls who can learn from these curated masters of the pumpkin carving world. The duos will compete in an epic battle, creating gigantic, intricate masterpieces that defy anyone's imagination.
Food Network has appointed Imagineer Terri Hardin and world-renowned pumpkin sculptor Deane Arnold to the official "Outrageous Pumpkins" panel of judges.
The fun series will inspire and entertain as we marvel at the imagination and technique that these carvers bring to the Halloween decor game. This unique competition category will feature: Being chased, losing teeth, falling, naked in public, feeling lost, being trapped, and being covered in bugs."
Phillips is a celebrity chef and a regular with Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri on Food Network, who co-hosted Southern & Hungry with Rutledge Wood and The Bobby and Damaris Show with Bobby Flay.
Previously, she won the 2013 Food Network Star, impressing judges with her fun take on Southern cooking. This win led to her show, Southern at Heart, airing for five seasons. Damaris is found on several other shows on the network, including Guy's Grocery Games, Cooks vs. Cons, Bakers vs. Fakers, Celebrity Food Fight, and others.
From Louisville, Kentucky, Phillips learned to cook early in her life and has published a cookbook, Southern Girl Meets Vegetarian Boy.