Arensberg advances in ‘Outrageous Pumpkins’
With two more challenges under his belt, Newark pumpkin-carver Titus Arensberg has held onto his place in the Food Network carving challenge “Outrageous Pumpkins,” and a shot at the $25,000 prize. Of the six contestants competing on the Oct. 10 show, one was eliminated.
The two challenges in Sunday night’s show, “Hungry Hungry Pumpkins,” left both Arensberg and Cincinnati carver William Wilson in the running. The next show will be shown and streamed on Oct. 17.
In Sunday’s “Quick Carve” challenge, the contestants had three hours to complete their work using a bowl of jelly beans. Each carver received a different flavor and had to create a pumpkin with the expression that the taste elicited — and a mirror in which to observe his or her own facial expressions.
Arensberg’s had the flavor of spoiled milk, so he went to work carving a pumpkin with a contorted face, holding its nose with a pumpkin stem arm, adding some taste buds for extra effect.
Though Arensberg worried, “I’m not a face guy,” judge Marc Evan noted that, “The expression on the face is really clear,” and judge Terri Hardin added, “I really love the distinct forms and shapes. You’ve created an extreme face that just drives it home.”
For the “Big Carve” that followed on the next day, the contestants had six hours to create a Halloween feast with a spooky guest, the body of which had to be created from a pumpkin they selected blindfolded from the field.
Arensberg decided to create a “Green Giggy.”
“He’s known for haunting the camp in my area. He ate up everything in the swamp,” Arensberg said. “So my menu is dragonfly skewers and a whole roasted goose inside a brick oven.”
Hardin found his creation appealing.
“I’m drawn to your oven and I really appreciate the dragonflies,” Hardin said.
“I love that a few of them are still alive and flying away,” Evan said. “But the central figure feels a little stiff. I wish that he was really engaging with some of those items.”
Next week’s contest will challenge the remaining five contestants to create alien encounters as well as a monster ride using at least 15 pumpkins.
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