It's all over! Three weeks of reader voting has seen No. 10 seed Reese's Peanut Butter Cups rise to the top of the 2025 SCN Halloween Candy Showdown. It was the year of the upset, as five of the first-round favorites went home earlier than expected. Here is your fangtastic recap.
Round 1
Game 1 saw the defending champion Snickers go against the all-time classic Hershey Bar. Snickers was almost sent home in the closest matchup of the first round, but it prevailed 54-46 (all scores are the percentage of reader voting). "That's right baby," Snickers screamed after the final buzzer blew. "A plain chocolate bar? That's so 2000 and late."
Twizzlers and Starburst were the only other two higher seeds to escape the upset train that was rolling through, and both won convincingly. "Sure, Candy Corn has been around forever, but they didn't stand a chance," Starburst head coach Very Berry explained. "The juice is loose, and we're moving on."
The largest upset of the first round, which set the tone for its Cinderella run to the finals, came from Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. It took down its hard-shelled brethren Reese's Pieces 92-8. "There's only one way to eat a Reese's, and it ain't in a tiny hard shell," Butter Cup said after the victory.
No. 11 Gummy Bears, No. 9 Skittles, No. 12 M&Ms, and No. 14 Butterfinger also survived and advanced, surprising the selection committee which clearly seeded them too low. "Nobody better lay a finger on us," Butterfinger exclaimed in the postgame presser.
Round 2
Eight teams entered and when the powder sugar settled, nary a gummy, chewy, or twizzling candy remained. Only one team escaped in non-upset style, and that was No. 1 Snickers, taking out the rainbow of fruit flavor, Skittles, 80-20. "We're not going anywhere for awhile," Snickers rejoiced.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was last year's runners-up, Starburst, being blown out of the sky by No. 10 Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, 92-8. "Chocolate and peanut butter?" the Cups said. "Like, an explosion of fruit flavor is fun, but we go together like ramma-lamma-lamma-ka-dingity-da-dinga-dong."
No. 14 Butterfinger became the lowest seed to ever advance to the semifinals, and with M&M's stunning 87-13 victory over Twizzlers, we saw two of the lowest seeds make it further than the experts expected. "We ain't going to melt in your mouth or your hands," Blue M&M said. "We're just going to keep dancing."
The Semifinals
In the first-ever, all-chocolate semifinals, No. 1 Snickers was geared up and looking strong as it headed towards a repeat. It utterly dominated M&Ms 70-30. "They tried to go peanut on us, but you just can't mess with the nougat," Snickers said, flexing its chocolate might.
In the other half of the bracket, it turned out the ball was still on for Cinderella No. 10 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. In a matchup where peanut butter and chocolate blended deliciously together, it was the Cups that prevailed, defeating Butterfinger, 71-29. "Look, kudos to the Fingers for making it this far," the elated Cups said, "but there's only room for one chocolate and peanut butter combo in this bracket."
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Claim the Day
They are calling it the upset of the century. No. 1 Snickers was right back where the experts picked them, romping to the candy championship game. However, it was No. 10 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups that pulled off its third upset of the bracket to reign as the 2025 Candy Supreme.
"We never lost faith," the Cups said. "We knew Snickers was going to be a battle. They have the experience, more wins in the history of this tournament than any other candy, and all that delectable nougat. But we've said it from the start, there's only two great tastes that taste great together. And today, we've proven there is no wrong way to win a candy championship."
That ends another thrilling SCN Halloween Candy Showdown. Who will prevail in 2026? All we know, is that these candies are already hard(shelled) at work to make it back to the bracket.
