“The View”'s 10 most disturbing Halloween costumes of all time

Since "The View" canceled its fan-favorite Halloween episode for 2024, EW looks back at some of the most unsettling seasonal outfits the cohosts have worn.

For The View, every day is spooky business as usual. From their posts at the Hot Topics table in the mortal realm, its cohosts regularly clash with the spiritual sector attempting to make contact on land (Joy Behar battling demonic kidnapping inside her apartment building’s elevator), by air (Whoopi Goldberg honing in on unknown entities floating through the set’s airspace), and from the depths of the sea (Sara Haines waging war with supernatural forces tipping over mugs filled with apparent oceans of water). But, this year, the show announced perhaps its scariest happening of all, when it canceled its fan-favorite Halloween episode, with producer Brian Teta revealing that the cohosts will not dress in costumes on the air, as the pre-taped episode would take up too much of the panelists' time as they prepare to cover the monumental 2024 presidential election.

The uproar over the decision was as terrifying as Alyssa Farah Griffin’s iconic suggestion that you can use sperm as “a nice face cream,” so to fill the void of not seeing Ana Navarro as Mirabel from Encanto on your TV this year, Entertainment Weekly has compiled a list of The View’s most disturbing Halloween costumes of all time.

Related: Every host of The View and why they left

A note: You might find yourself asking, “Hey, why isn’t Sunny Hostin's 2019 costume as Pennywise from It on this list?” But, the key to a disturbing View cohost costume is not measurable in overt terror. It goes far beyond that. A psychologically tormenting View cohost costume must be innocent in nature, presented by its wearer as an earnest attempt at sporting an inoffensive, “good” Halloween costume that spirals off course, similar to Behar’s butt attempting to land atop a swivel chair on March 3, 2022. Essentially, its cloaked host can’t have communicated conscious awareness of the costume’s disturbing nature; we, the View-ers, must deem it an assault on our collective psyche after it was laid forth — with good-natured dignity — at the Hot Topics table.

The most disturbing Halloween costumes in 'The View' history

Honorable mention: A child as convicted criminal Anna Delvey (2024)

Although the hosts did not dress up this year, the show did continue its legacy of dressing kids up in controversial costumes to commemorate pop culture moments of the year. This included a mini version of Anna Delvey, complete with a kid-size ankle monitor just like the fraudster wore while competing on Dancing With the Stars.

Honorable mention: A child as the Will Smith Oscars slap, complete with a red handprint on their face (2022)

This one is self-explanatory.

Honorable mention: Candace Cameron Bure takes flight as Tinker Bell (2016)

Okay, this one requires a little bit of explanation. When you think of a blonde woman dangling from wires high in the air while sporting a glittery bodysuit, images of Britney Spears on the Circus tour, Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl, Pink at literally every concert of her life, or even RuPaul's Drag Race queens jumping from the rafters come to mind. So, seeing the conservative, anti-including-gay-marriage-in-her-Christmas-movies actress rigged up and soaring through the show's studio in a similar getup simply clashes with our brain chemistry, like a reverent Trojan Horse in drag.

Related: Whoopi Goldberg tormented by The View stage light: 'I can't see' prompter

10: Jenny McCarthy as Miley Cyrus' tongue (2013)

While Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus stunned sensitive primetime viewers into shock with their raunchy performance at the 2013 VMAs, Jenny McCarthy carried the sentiment over to morning television, when she joined the show as Cyrus' tongue personified. The costume itself wasn't particularly elaborate, but in the context of 2024, in a post-Elisabeth Sparkle world, we can't help but view this amalgamation of a celebrity face and, uh, a separate celebrity body part as an 11-years-prior prediction for Monstro Elisasue from The Substance.

9: Paula Faris as Waldo (2017)

The shirt, glasses, and short wig together aren't necessarily frightening, but it jump-scared our memory while researching for this list, as we'd entirely forgotten that Paula Faris occupied space on The View (as we assume many others have, too.)

8: Meghan McCain as Elsa from 'Frozen' (2018)

This 2018 milestone marked one of the only times during her View tenure that conservative cohost Meghan McCain was on camera without attempting to speak. The, "Girl, please stop talking" villainess of the Hot Topics table remained silent for multiple seconds on end on the show's holiday edition, all while the entire audience (more than just her single, lone clapper she often pointed out in other episodes) applauded her sashay to the stage as Elsa from Frozen. If you've paid any attention at all to The View cohost drama across the years since McCain's 2022 departure, you'll know that the atmosphere during her time on the show was allegedly as prickly as her iconic pet cactus. It's a speculation that makes The View announcer's introduction for McCain's costume all the more hilarious in hindsight. "She's been called a legendary ice queen whose blood runs cold," the emcee says as McCain walks out to the stage. "But, enough about Meghan."

7: Producer Brian Teta as the Wizard of Oz (2021)

He hosts the series' Behind the Table companion podcast. The main show's live camera cuts to him on average once every 2.4 episodes (this statement is not supported by actual scientific measuring). He even refers to his "fans" as "Bri-Guys." And, if you look at The View producer Brian Teta's face in the image below as the Wizard of Oz, it's hard to mistake the longing in his eyes as he watches the cohosts from afar, all dolled up with nowhere to go outside of his (mostly) off-camera holding pen. Just let him be the seventh permanent cohost, and put his suffering to an end!

6: Sherri Shepherd as Abraham Lincoln on a penny (2008)

In donning a pancake-like, circular contraption and morphing into a penny, Sherri Shepherd dressed the way she once said she viewed the world, after telling Goldberg she didn't know if Earth was flat or not shortly after her debut on The View.

5: Joy Behar as Pinocchio (2017)

As Tom Hanks' recent Disney remake proved, anyone attempting to bring beloved wooden child Pinocchio into the contemporary era is playing a dangerous game that could result in welcoming evil forces into our world through a rift caused by a deep disturbance of the pop culture continuum. Behar opened the gates years prior on The View, when she sported a false nose that, when inflated by a pump, grew in size while sitting on her very face. We don't know why, we don't know how, but watching Behar operate the pump is an inexplicably upsetting experience. Maybe it taps into body horror anxieties (What if the pump breaks? What if that device backfires and goes up her nose instead of out the other way? We fear for you, Joy!) or maybe it's just edging too close into Uncanny Valley territory — but, either way, that is appropriate for the season. So, just kidding. Bravo, Joy! Spooky, ooky, kooky, and creepy!

Related: Joy Behar clashes with Alyssa Farah Griffin on The View over demonizing Donald Trump supporters: 'Come on, Alyssa'

4: Triplets of Terror: Elisabeth Hasselbeck as Ronald Reagan, Barbara Walters as George Washington, and Joy Behar as Theodore Roosevelt (2008)

Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the conservative ex-Survivor contestant turned conservative View panelist, famously once said "f--- that" in the presence of Barbara Walters. Upon viewing her 2008 getup as Ronald Reagan, her choice phrase comes to mind once again. But, actually, this is an opportunity to align Hasselbeck with a community that's often at odds with the Republican party's stances, so, bravo, Official Drag King™ Elisabeth Hasselbeck!

3: Barbara Walters as Marilyn Monroe (2003)

A celebrity? Dressing up as Marilyn Monroe for Halloween? Groundbreaking. But, The View creator Barbara Walters took things one step further via Method acting, co-hosting the 2003 Halloween edition by channeling Monroe in the afterlife via forced, sing-song voice as she spoke to her colleagues, sang to the audience, and even threw a little shade at Star Jones' singing voice in the process. It's the faces Walters made throughout, though, that burn this display into our memory.

2: Raven-Symoné as Cartman from 'South Park' and Whoopi Goldberg as Marge Simpson from 'The Simpsons' (2016)

Raven-Symoné was having the time of her life while dressed as Cartman from South Park, while we were not, as the image of her and Goldberg as Marge Simpson from The Simpsons still plagues both our waking life and evening nightmares.

1: Sara Haines as Carl Fredricksen from 'Up' (2023)

If you ever found yourself wondering, “What would Sara Haines look like filtered through the Pixar AI generator, about 50 years older, after sitting through (what looks like) hours of prosthetic application, and then infected by the Smile Entity from Smile?” Well, Haines’ 2023 costume has your answer!

Related: Sara Haines slams hand, knocks over candy bowl on The View thinking it was Whoopi Goldberg's bell: 'Anyone listening to me?'

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The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.