Halloween Wars Judges and Hosts Explained

For a show that has run every October since 2011, Halloween Wars has churned through a surprising number of hosts and judges. One person has outlasted them all, and the rest form a rotating cast of magicians, actors, special-effects legends, and one ghost hunter. Here is who has sat at the table and stood at the front of the room, season by season, with the full season record on our show page.

The one constant: Shinmin Li

Cake artist Shinmin Li has judged every season of Halloween Wars since the 2011 premiere, which makes her the institutional memory of the entire franchise. She is the judge who evaluates the teams' work as craft, not just spectacle, and her verdicts tend to decide the close ones. Her art-school-to-cake-studio story is covered in our Shinmin Li profile.

The second chair: a parade of monster-makers

The seat next to Shinmin has traditionally gone to someone from the horror world rather than the pastry world, which is very on brand.

The switch to Aarti Sequeira in 2021 marked a real change in philosophy: for the first time the second permanent chair went to a food person rather than a horror person, tilting the judging back toward taste. A weekly guest judge, often an actor or director with Halloween credentials, has rounded out the panel through most of the run.

The hosts, from magician to ghost hunter

• Justin Willman (seasons 1 to 4). The magician and future Magic for Humans star hosted the early years, the same era he was fronting Cupcake Wars.
• Rossi Morreale (season 5). A one-season bridge host in 2015.
• Jonathan Bennett (seasons 6 to 10, then 13 onward). The Mean Girls actor turned Food Network mainstay is the host most fans associate with the show, and our Jonathan Bennett profile covers how he ended up running half the network's holiday competitions.
• Zak Bagans with Eddie Jackson (seasons 11 and 12). The Ghost Adventures investigator hosted the two supersized pandemic-era seasons, with Food Network's Eddie Jackson as co-host, before Bennett returned in 2023.

What they are judging, exactly

Each team's display is scored on both artistry and taste: the cake and sugar work has to look terrifying and eat well. Prize money has been $50,000 for most of the show's history, with a dip to $25,000 for the 2023 and 2024 seasons before the 2025 season advertised $50,000 again. The guest-judge chair means the criteria flex a little week to week, but Shinmin and the permanent panel keep the standards consistent.

If you are new to the show entirely, start with our complete Halloween Wars fan guide, which explains the team structure and how the elimination works, then come back here to appreciate just how unusual this judging table is by baking-show standards.