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The Food Network\u2019s Halloween Baking Championship<\/a> kicks off Season 11 this week, welcoming 10 bakers to \u201ca terrible haunted mansion filled with secret passageways and scares around every corner,\u201d according to its announcement.<\/p>\n Orlando\u2019s money should be on Kissimmee local Alan Arras<\/a>, if you ask me. His copious pastry chef experience at one of Orlando\u2019s world-famous theme parks should prove useful in navigating such treacherous spaces. And he\u2019s excited for friends and fans to watch the action on the extra-large, two-hour season premiere Monday, Sept. 15 at 9 p.m. EST.<\/p>\n Arras is no stranger to televised competition.<\/p>\n The El Paso, Texas native has brought home a pastry prize before \u2014 winning Episode 6 of Season 1 on Netflix\u2019s \u201cSugar Rush\u201d back in 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cI love all these shows,\u201d Arras told the Orlando Sentinel, \u201cbut Halloween was a goal to compete in. It\u2019s one of my favorite holidays and it\u2019s so much fun, because you can be whatever you want \u2014 scary, cute, whatever. Being on the show was a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n Host John Henson \u2014 along with judges Carla Hall, Stephanie Boswell and Zac Young \u2014 presented a host of harrowing challenges for Arras and his fellow competitors, including one in which bakers were to create their \u201cbiggest nightmares,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could have been anything \u2014 a fear of something or from a scary movie,\u201d says Arras, but the scariest parts, largely, were the time restrictions.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to use your imagination to come up with an idea and create something scary, which is fun, but hard,\u201d he notes. \u201cI do this all the time at work, but I don\u2019t have to do all of it in two or three hours, which is really insane. And you also have to make sure you\u2019re meeting all the requirements of the challenge. And it has to be delicious.\u201d<\/p>\n Best Bakery: 2025 Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards<\/a><\/p>\n His skills, he says, were not a concern, though it was fun to meet talented bakers \u2014 both professional and home cooks \u2014 who lit fires under one another.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was exciting to have the opportunity to compete with them,\u201d says Arras of the diverse field. \u201cBut I learned that I am a very competitive person \u2026 We all loved each other, but we also all want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n Good-natured taunting on set was not uncommon. Neither was gore.<\/p>\n \u201cLots of body parts!\u201d he laughs. \u201cIt was really fun to get outside of my comfort zone and do scary stuff, use \u2018blood\u2019 and that kind of thing, because I\u2019m used to making Halloween things on the cuter side. It was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n No spoilers, of course, but the biggest thrill Arras can talk about was meeting the judges \u2014 in particular Carla Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cI love to watch all the shows she\u2019s on. She\u2019s one of my favorite chefs and I was so close to her. She\u2019s sitting 5 feet away!\u201d<\/p>\n Their costumes, too, he says, were amazing, \u201cand honestly, sometimes they were really scary!\u201d<\/p>\n