Outrageous Pumpkins Geometry Article for Students

How big was the largest pumpkin you’ve ever carved? For most people, 13 pounds is on the high end. But for the contestants on the Food Network’s Outrageous Pumpkins, it could be a pumpkin bigger than they are! These expert carvers turn pumpkins big and small into works of art.

The show’s fifth season of spooky creativity arrives this October. It’s hosted by Damaris Phillips. She’s a chef from Lexington, Kentucky, who won a Food Network competition in 2013—so she knows the kind of pressure the pumpkin carvers are under! But even Phillips admits these artists are in a class of their own. “When I’m judging a food show, I think I can do what these chefs are doing. With the competitors on Outrageous Pumpkins, I can’t do what they’re doing!”

Think about the largest pumpkin you’ve ever carved. How big was it? For most people, the record is about 13 pounds. But not for the contestants on the Food Network’s Outrageous Pumpkins. They might carve pumpkins bigger than they are! These expert carvers work on pumpkins big and small. They turn them into works of art.

The show’s fifth season starts this October. It’s hosted by Damaris Phillips. She’s a chef from Lexington, Kentucky, who won a Food Network competition in 2013. Even she is in awe of the pumpkin carvers. “When I’m judging a food show, I think I can do what these chefs are doing,” she says. “With the competitors on Outrageous Pumpkins, I can’t do what they’re doing!”

Carving pumpkins is very different from carving marble or sculpting with clay because pumpkins are organic material. “Every single pumpkin is different,” Phillips says. “If you’re talking about clay, it often works similarly. But this is a tricky medium.” Carvers have to be prepared to work with the natural shape and structure of their pumpkins, which means being ready to adapt their design as they’re carving. If a pumpkin has a particularly thick skin, they might decide to do more complicated etched designs that dig into the skin so that different amounts of light can shine through. If they have one with a thin shell, they have to be mindful of any cutout designs they make, because too many could cause their creation to collapse.

And the carvers have more than pumpkins to choose from. The show is filmed on a working farm in Virginia that has piles of other vegetables they can use. Each veggie provides a different shape. But more importantly, they provide colors to incorporate into the designs. A potato can become pearly white teeth for a skull, or cabbage leaves transform into a ruffled skirt. “What judges are looking for is how the contestants are able to be creative and then use those organic materials,” says Phillips.

Carving pumpkins is different from carving other substances. Many carvers use stone or clay. But unlike those materials, pumpkins are living things. “Every single pumpkin is different,” says Phillips. “This is a tricky medium.”

Carvers have to work with the natural shapes of their pumpkins. That means being ready to change their designs as they go. For example, their pumpkin might have a thick skin. That means they can do more complicated etched designs. Etching is scraping away different amounts of skin in different places. That lets different amounts of light shine through. On the other hand, the pumpkin could have a thin shell. That means carvers have to be careful making cutouts. If they remove too many pieces, their creation could collapse!

The contestants carve more than pumpkins. The show is filmed on a farm in Virginia. There are a lot of other vegetables they can use! Different vegetables give carvers different shapes to work with. They also provide different colors to use in the designs. A potato can turn into white teeth for a skull sculpture. Cabbage leaves can become a ruffled skirt. “Judges are looking for the contestants to be creative with those organic materials,” says Phillips.

Season 4 contestant Rebecca DeGroot sizes up her pumpkin options.

Getting to compete on Outrageous Pumpkins is exciting for many of the contestants for one big reason: the pumpkins! While some challenges do utilize typical 6- to 13-pound pumpkins like the ones you might pick up at a grocery store for jack-o’-lanterns, others let the artists go wild on truly massive gourds.

Pumpkins can be intimidating, especially when they weigh hundreds of pounds—which means the pumpkin is worth hundreds of dollars. Pumpkins cost about $1 per pound. “If it’s a 2,000-pound pumpkin, that’s a $2,000 piece of organic material,” says Phillips. “The carvers are very excited, because how often are you able to go spend $1,000 on a pumpkin at Halloween?”

Not every challenge features giant pumpkins, but that doesn’t mean the task is any less intense—or the result any less spectacular. Some challenges require the artists to use four or more average-sized pumpkins in clever ways, like by arranging gravity-defying towers or building delicate structures like skeletons. “They’re builders too,” says Phillips. “I’ve learned a lot of things about internal structures for making 3-D pieces.”

For many contestants on Outrageous Pumpkins, being on TV isn’t the most exciting part. The pumpkins are! Some challenges use typical 6- to 13-pound pumpkins. But others let the artists go wild on truly massive gourds.

Big pumpkins are expensive, so carvers can’t always afford them. Pumpkins usually cost about $1 per pound. “If it’s a 2,000-pound pumpkin, that’s a $2,000 piece of material,” says Phillips. “The carvers are very excited, because how often can you spend $1,000 on a pumpkin at Halloween?”

Carving enormous pumpkins can be intense. But working with smaller pumpkins can too! Sometimes the artists have to use multiple average-sized pumpkins in clever ways. They may have to make tall towers or complex shapes like skeletons. That means they need a strong structure. “They’re builders too,” says Phillips.

Before hosting Outrageous Pumpkins, Phillips says her Halloween decorating ideas “stopped at jack-o’-lanterns.” But hosting the show has inspired her to think bigger about how to upgrade her home’s spooky style, from trying out new pumpkin carving techniques to plotting out massive porch displays.

That’s the experience Phillips hopes viewers will have too. Outrageous Pumpkins reminds her of just how much fun the fall can be—from haunted houses and costume parties to corn mazes and carving pumpkins with your family. “After watching, you want to lean into Halloween a little bit more,” she says.

So what will you be carving into your pumpkin this year?

Before she hosted Outrageous Pumpkins, Phillips stuck with simple Halloween decorations. Her ideas “stopped at jack-o’-lanterns,” she says. But hosting the show has inspired her. She has tried new pumpkin carving techniques and planned big, spooky porch displays.

Phillips hopes viewers will feel the same way. Outrageous Pumpkins reminds her of how much fun the fall can be, she says. “After watching, you want to lean into Halloween a little bit more.”

So what will you carve into your pumpkin this year?

Determine the 2-D cross sections you can make by slicing the 3-D shapes pumpkin carvers use to make their sculptures. Record your work and answers on our answer sheet.

A team starts with a square pyramid. Which 2-D cross sections could they create by slicing the pyramid vertically or horizontally. Choose all that apply.

❏ square

❏ triangle

❏ circle

❏ rectangle

❏ square

❏ triangle

❏ circle

❏ rectangle

A. To create creepy fingers for a vegetable hand, a carver starts with cone-shaped carrots. Draw a vertical plane through the cone below.

B. What is the shape of the resulting 2-D cross section?

C. What 2-D cross section would be made if the carver made a horizontal slice instead?

A pumpkin carver starts with a spherical pumpkin. What 2-D cross section does she make slicing the pumpkin horizontally or vertically?

A carver wants to pick a vegetable with a triangular cross section when sliced either vertically or horizontally. Check all the options she could pick.