Melanie Bjork-Jensen has a tattoo that reads, “I am worth the effort it takes to be happy.” That motto was put to the test when she was selected to be a contestant on the 11th season of Food Network’s Halloween Baking Championship.

The West Jordan resident was one of 10 bakers from around the country who competed on the seven-episode show, vying for the chance to win $25,000. Set in a haunted mansion, the Halloween Baking Championship created terrifying competitions for the contestants. The first baking test challenged bakers to depict their number one Halloween fright, and make it pump blood. 

“We were given tubing and a pump, and we had to make the blood edible and match the flavor of our creation and be able to slide the tubing through without messing up the dessert,” she said. “We had to do it live on camera, in front of the judges, and it was so terrifying.”

Bjork-Jensen taught herself to bake by watching YouTube videos. She began making wedding cakes, built up a clientele and used the money she earned to pay her way through nursing school. She worked as a trauma nurse before becoming a traveling labor-and-delivery nurse, currently working at St. Mark’s Hospital in Millcreek.

This was her second time applying for the Halloween Baking Championship. This year, Bjork-Jensen was contacted by the show’s producers to see if she was still interested. She was definitely still interested.

Filming the show was intense. Bjork-Jensen said she felt trauma-bonded to the other contestants, whom she loved getting to know, and even had a well-publicized meltdown on set during one of the challenges. 

“I have a background as an emergency nurse, but I feel like [the show] brought me to the breaking point,” she said. “It was also an amazing experience. It was fun and unlike anything I’d done before.”

Bjork-Jensen survived a brain tumor four years ago, but it left her with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid gland. The disease is exacerbated by gluten, so baking on the show became a challenge because she couldn’t taste the items she was making.

In one episode, she knew her recipe was wrong, but she wasn’t sure what she’d missed. She decided to take a bite, then spit it out to see if she could pinpoint her mistake.

“I had left the sugar out. It was terrible.”

Bjork-Jensen said her two children have been her biggest cheerleaders. They were able to fly to California on a day she wasn’t filming to hang out and they’ve told all their school friends about her baking skills. 

Although she compared the experience to “water torture,” she found value in the effort and the time she took off work to do something important. She permitted herself to enjoy the experience, acknowledging that it was okay to do something for herself.

“I tend to be unkind to myself and I haven’t been very patient with myself, like allowing myself to learn new things. So being able to give myself the right to do poorly and learn and to do better shows I’m worth the effort,” she said. “Going through this felt like the biggest piece of therapy that I could have, and it was an incredible life-changing experience.”

Season 11 of Food Network’s Halloween Baking Championship premiered on Sept. 15 and is currently available on Food Network and streaming services.