O come, all ye bakers!

Tom Allen and Paul Hollywood on Bake Off’s festive special, mince pies, and elves

- Caren Clark

Baking and Christmas go together like Paul Hollywood and a tube of hair gel! So dust off your festive aprons as C4’s The Great British Bake Off welcomes back four of our favorite past contestants for this year’s sparkling seasonal special.

With Noel Fielding on paternity leave, Bake Off: An Extra Slice and Bake Off: The Professionals cohost Tom Allen steps in to share presenting duties with Matt Lucas, as Paul and fellow judge Prue Leith sample the mouthwatering, merry bakes to determine who should be crowned Christmas Star Baker.

There will also be a New Year episode with Noel back as co-host and featuring four more past bakers, set to air in January.

Here, Tom, 37, and Paul, 54, tell us more about Christmas in the famous white tent…

Tom, how was it being part of the team for the Christmas special?