Sweet victory for Sweet Evelyn’s: Cory Jones and team named Holiday Wars champions

PERRY, Ga. — A local baker and entrepreneur is taking a victory home to Houston County from Holiday Wars, a national competition on Food Network.

Team Frost Bites, composed of Cory Jones, owner of Sweet Evelyn’s in Perry, and his teammates, sugar artist Pege Yates of St. Louis, Missouri, and cake artist Brian Valencia of Reno, Nevada, took home the ultimate win in the eighth season of the competition show.

For the final challenge, the remaining two teams, Team Frost Bites and Team Sugar Bandits, were tasked to build an edible display inspired by Christmas lights. Host Jeff Mauro and the judges asked Frost Bites to incorporate coconut and blueberry into a tasting element on the final piece.

With only 7 hours to pull it off, Frost Bites built a diorama of a houseboat, brightly decorated for Christmas, with the idea of the houseboat’s owner taking it to shore to show off their Christmas lights. Jones used gingerbread cookies to build garlands, a wreath, and an edible dock for the boat to rest near.

When they unveiled the final design, the judges were blown away by their display, with celebrity pastry chef Shinmin Li praising Jones’ cookie work.

“This is another amazing representation of what you do best. Cory, I think your cookie work is so clean. I love this dock; it’s beautiful, and it’s perfect.” Li said during the episode.

Celebrity chef Aarti Sequiera loved the overall clean look of the display and a smoke stack composed of cotton candy made by Yates.

The tasting element was blueberry coconut cake pops. Li loved the cake pops, saying the team perfectly blended two typically muted flavors.

Jones said he couldn’t describe his emotions when he had won, especially among a fantastic group of competing bakers. He added that teamwork between him, Yates and Valencia ultimately won them the championship.

“All teams this season were super talented and the judges even said that it was very difficult for them to choose a winner. Just a lot of talent, but knowing that they chose us, it was just overwhelming with emotion,” Jones said.

Jones traveled to Park City, Utah, in August to film the show. He said he was initially nervous but made the most of his experience and valuable friendships with his team and competing bakers along the way.

“The whole experience, which is something that I would never have dreamed of, [consisted] of things that I’ve never done before. So of course, you’re super nervous, but working together with the team and just pushing through, going over the top, doing things that you’ve never done before, it made the experience worthwhile, ending up the winners,” Jones said.

Team Frost Bites won $25,000 and the title of Holiday Wars Champions. Jones said, reflecting on his win with the Journal, that he plans to use most of the prize money towards his business and buy a sheeter, an automatic rolling machine.

“A sheeter is something that will flatten the dough for you. I was able to use that on the show for the first time and it makes life so much easier,” Jones said.

As the word spread about Jones’s appearance on the show, he said he saw overwhelming support from friends, family, and the community. Jones predicts even more exposure and foot traffic for his business due to the win and the holiday season.

Overall, Jones was thankful for the Food Network giving him another chance to compete after elimination from the Christmas Cookie Challenge, calling the Holiday Wars win a redemption.

In the future, Jones said he is in the beginning stages of writing a book. He also thanked the community and said there is more to come.

“The biggest thing that I would say to the community right now is thank you. Like I said they have rallied around and really supported us. Just stay tuned,” Jones said.

If you’d like to catch the final episode or any previous episodes of Holiday Wars, you can stream them on Food Network GO, Max, Discovery Plus, fuboTV, Hulu, YouTube TV, Hulu, Sling TV or Philo.

To keep up with Jones and Sweet Evelyn’s, follow @sweetevelyns on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and @sweetevelynsperry on Instagram.

HHJ News