Seven carvers must master the classic jack-o'-lantern. In the Quick Carve round, the competitors depict the struggle between good and evil. In the Big Carve round, each competitor is given one of the seven deadly sins to inspire their masterpiece.
Six expert pumpkin carvers tackle 3-D sculpting challenges, starting with science experiments gone wrong in the Quick Carve round. Things heat up in the Big Carve round when the competitors incorporate fire in 3-D dioramas of trick-or-treating pumpkins.
Host Sunny Anderson asks seven carvers to create massive jack-o'-lanterns that tell a ghost story; then, each carver must create four nesting jack-o'-lanterns that are just as enchanting on their own as they are when they come together.
Six carvers are challenged to depict a flavor reaction -- salty, sweet, sour or spicy -- with detailed 3-D face sculpting. Then they get to flex their imagination as they create a gigantic Halloween feast for a special guest of honor.
In the finale, the remaining four carvers create a hero who has 30 seconds to save the world from doomsday. Then they must incorporate their hero into a 5-foot-tall scene depicting the end of the world featuring Atlantic Giant pumpkins.
Five expert pumpkin carvers face a spooky structures challenge. The carvers stack pumpkins to create undead animals in a pet cemetery-themed Quick Carve round before moving on to make enormous prehistoric creatures in the Big Carve round.
Seven carvers are challenged to transform three pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns inspired by a cursed nursery rhyme, followed by a terrifying jack-o'-lantern display of what lies beneath the ocean using at least five pumpkins.
The five carvers are challenged to create out-of-this-world structures and sky-high alien encounters using at least two stacked pumpkins. Then the competitors are tasked with using at least 15 pumpkins to create an epic monster ride.