Season 12

Host Jesse Palmer welcomes 12 amazing bakers to the gorgeous holiday village, where the bakers are divided into the Nice Team and the Naughty Team. In each bake, there will be a top dessert from each team, and the best overall dessert wins for their team. In elimination challenges, the winning team is safe from elimination, and the losing team loses a baker. For the first preheat challenge, the Nice Team makes warm and toasty desserts, while the Naughty Team makes chill and frosty treats. Then, Jesse asks each team to create an edible holiday village that includes a dessert from every baker. Judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown decide which baker from the losing team will be eliminated.

Host Jesse Palmer asks the Naughty Team to make holiday cocktail desserts and the Nice Team to make mocktail desserts using assigned libations like boozy Hot Buttered Rum or non-alcoholic Pumpkin Eggnog for inspiration. Then, the bakers must create meringue-based desserts that obviously appear as either cheerful vs. cheeky to impress judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown.

Host Jesse Palmer asks the teams to create over-the-top holiday wreath desserts, and they cannot repeat desserts within their team. Also, there's only one challenge this time, and the team who won the previous challenge gets to pick a naughty or nice advantage -- either take away the other team's stand mixers or get an exclusive basket of decorating items. In the end, judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown decide which baker goes home.

Host Jesse Palmer challenges the nine remaining bakers to make seasonal holiday pies with no repeated flavors among their own team. In a surprise bit of strategy, each team must select only their best two pies for tasting by judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown. To make the decision, the bakers taste their team's pies on their own. Feathers might get a little ruffled, but it's for the team! In the end, a baker from the losing team is eliminated.

Host Jesse Palmer asks the remaining eight bakers to make desserts representing snow-day activities like cutting out snowflakes, sledding, or snowshoeing. Plus, since the holidays are all about giving, Jesse offers the most recent winning team a difficult choice between two nice or naughty gifts -- a 15-minute head start or stealing a baker from the other team! Judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown decide which baker from the losing team is eliminated.

For a Chrismukkah dessert platter challenge, host Jesse Palmer asks the remaining seven bakers to make decorated Christmas cookies, rugelach, and traditional Hanukkah sufganiyot. In an unexpected twist, judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown do a blind tasting to decide who should make it into the upcoming all-important semifinals and who is eliminated.

In the semifinals, the six remaining bakers are surprised to learn from host Jesse Palmer that there are no more teams, and they will be competing individually as they face a gauntlet of three challenges. First, the bakers must create retro Christmas desserts and add holiday flair to the decorating. Then, in a second heat, the competitors are tasked with making desserts with old-school gelatin mold flavors like lime cream cheese, peach buttermilk, or orange marshmallow. In the main heat, bakers must turn things like canned apple pie filling, canned pineapple, or instant chocolate pudding into retro ingredient desserts that are impressive enough to land them in the finale. Guest judge Stephanie Boswell joins Nancy Fuller and Kardea Brown to decide which bakers move on and which baker is eliminated.

It's the finale, and three challenges await the five remaining bakers! For the preheat, host Jesse Palmer asks the bakers to create "naughty" elf desserts in flavors like black licorice, sauerkraut, or red curry. Then, in an elimination challenge, the competitors make "nice" hot cocoa desserts. For the final bake, the bakers must make a large-scale, over-the-top naughty vs. nice cake with both themes clearly represented in the decorating. Guest judge Zac Young joins Nancy Fuller and Kardea Brown to decide which talented baker walks away with $25,000 and the title of Holiday Baking Champion!