Susana Mijares of The Skeletons, as seen on Halloween Wars, Season 16.
Kim Raff/Courtesy of Food Network
This past summer, Susana Mijares and her husband, Nacho Aguirre, regulars on Food Network reality cooking shows for the last decade, were excited to tune in to the inaugural season of Pitmasters. Fellow San Antonio couple Esaul and Grecia Ramos were among the competitors.
“I think the Food Network has a special chapter in their books for San Antonio contestants,” Mijares told MySA in a recent interview. “We’re represented really well!”
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Mijares, who co-owns Délice Chocolatier and Patisserie on San Antonio’s far north central side, with Aguirre, will represent her hometown again, this time on the 16th season of Halloween Wars, which premieres September 13 on the Food Network. Her and her team won season 12 of the same series in 2022. This time, she is teaming up and competing against other past champions for a shot at $30,000.
“I want to prove to everyone that they can do anything they want if they put their heart and soul into it,” Mijares said. “It’s a hard task, but I think it’s worth it.”
Full cast of competitors, as seen on Halloween Wars, Season 16.
Kim Raff/Courtesy of Food Network
Mijares and Aguirre, who moved to the Alamo City from Torreón, Mexico, in 2009, are a major reason San Antonians have received so much screen time on the Food Network. Aguirre won Spring Baking Championship in 2018, before returning to the network as a judge on shows like Holiday Baking Championship: Gingerbread Showdown, Girl Scout Cookie Championship, Candy Land and Thanksgiving Pie Fight.
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Along with winning Halloween Wars four years ago, Mijares competed on Spring Baking Championship, Best Baker in America and Holiday Wars.
“I keep coming back because I love it,” she said. “It’s so much stress and so much adrenaline.”
Kristina Patenaude, Lily Halabi and Susana Mijares of The Skeletons, as seen on Halloween Wars, Season 16.
Kim Raff/Courtesy of Food Network
For season 16 of Halloween Wars, Mijares is joining Team Skeletons alongside fellow returning competitors Kristina Patenaude, a professional pumpkin carver from Temple, Texas, and Lily Halabi, a cake artist from Harker Heights, Texas. The all-star trio will vie for another chance at Halloween glory.
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“Before Halloween Wars, I was so scared of making bloody and scary things,” Mijares said. “Now, I have this side of me that I didn’t know I had. You have to be even more prepared this season because you want to prove why you won before.”
Aguirre knows why his wife is a champion. He’s her biggest fan. After 32 years of marriage, they still enjoy sharing their kitchen. Mijares said that “couples who cook together, stay together,” and they’ve proven it to be true. This year, thxeir home kitchen became less crowded after their youngest child went off to college. Now, they’re empty nesters for the first time.
“We’re alone in our house with our three cats, and we’ve been enjoying it so much,” Mijares said. “But every time [our kids] come home or we go visit them, we have sweets for them.”
Out of their five children, their middle one, Regina, who recently got married (Mijares and Aguirre made her wedding cake, of course), recently showed interest in following in her parents’ footsteps in the culinary world.
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“Now, we know that someone is going to take over the family business one day,” Mijares said. “I keep telling her, ‘Someday you might be on one of these shows, too.’ We’re teaching her everything we know.”
Halloween Wars season 16 premieres Sunday, September 13 at 8 p.m. CT on Food Network and streams the following day on HBO Max.