CELEBRITY LINE-UP REVEALED FOR MASTERCHEF AND SEWING BEE CHRISTMAS SPECIALS ON BBC ONE

The celebrity line-ups for the BBC's festive specials of MasterChef and The Great British Sewing Bee have been revealed.

Celebrity MasterChef

Christmas is coming, with four turtle doves, four helpings of Yule log, and four fresh-faced celebrities battling it out in the MasterChef kitchen for the sparkliest prize of the year: The Golden Whisk trophy. 

The guest list includes stars that are firmly positioned at the top of their showbiz trees: Reality TV Star GK Barry, Award-winning actor, and all-round Top Boy Kola Bokinni, BBC Disability Correspondent and TV presenter Nikki Fox, and stand-up comic, and the excitable voice of Love Island, Iain Stirling.

To stand any chance of getting their glittery mitts on the trophy, they must impress the judges across two tasks, designed to challenge and inspire them in equal parts. The one who impresses the most will become this year’s champion, and forever more be the one asked to cook at dinner parties.

Four simply brilliant MasterChef Champions get dressed to impress as they compete for a title even greater than the last, the right to be crowned MasterChef Champion of Champions 2025.

2013 trophy-holder Natalie Coleman, Thomas Frake, who took the crown in 2020, 2023’s champion Chariya Khattiyot, who has taken the festive dress-code to new heights, and Brin Pirathapan, who came up trumps in 2024. These cooks have already proven they have what it takes to win, but how will they fare against each other? One thing is for sure: none of them wants to spend Christmas Day with the runner-up blues, so this will be a showdown to remember.

Two tasks lie ahead, both designed to boost the already abundant festive cheer, and to inspire the champions to create plates of food that will leave the judges in raptures. To add a sense of occasion, they have invited a special guest to help them pick their stand-out dish, and who better than a man who knows a thing or two about royalty, and also has experience of spotting MasterChef Champions a mile off: revered restaurant critic, Tom Parker Bowles. 

 Festive Sewing Bee

Brand new host Sophie Willan takes the helm as judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young put four celebrities’ sewing skills to the test in The Great British Sewing Bee Celebrity Christmas Special.

They’ll be welcoming into the Sewing Room professional dancer and Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke, comedian Lucy Beaumont, actress Susan Wokoma and Gladiator Tom Wilson, AKA Hammer. They put their twist on a pattern for a festive present sack and turn second hand party wear into an outfit inspired by The Twelve Days of Christmas in the transformation.

Finally, they create an outfit for real life models inspired by their favourite Christmas treat.

Transmission details will be announced in due course.