For fans, the "Kitchen Impossible" Christmas special is always a very special treat. After all, for Tim Mälzer it's not just against one opponent, but against a whole pack of top chefs. This year, however, maltsters and co. are trying something completely new: a cooking duel in the spirit of Christmas.

This year, the chefs are not competing against each other as lone fighters, but as a team. Tim Mälzer brought his friend Lucki Maurer to the side for the duel. In a double pack, they want to assert themselves against the Berlin star chefs Tim Raue and Max Strohe. All three are no strangers to the cooking show, they have all dueled at least once with the "food processor" Mälzer on the stove.

As usual, the teams send each other into the unknown. At the destination, the teams have to cook up special Christmas menus this time - a total of three dishes. In the end, as always, a jury decides how well the chefs have done and how close their version has come to the original dish. After that, the teams meet for a Christmas Eve together, cook and eat together, give each other presents - and see how the respective teams have performed on the tasks set.

Tim Mälzer and Lucki Maurer are sent to Munich by their competitors, where they have to prove themselves in the JIN restaurant. However, you won't find a hearty, traditional German menu there, but one from the Far East. You have to recreate a dish by Hao Jin, which has been awarded two Gault Millau toques. Star chefs Tim Raue and Max Strohe are allowed to travel a little further south, to Apulia. There they face off against a real Italian nonna - and a dish that will drive them to the brink of despair and beyond.

Which cooking team gets the most points in the end and whether Tim Mälzer will overcome his Christmas curse this time - he has never won a Christmas special - can be seen on Vox on Sunday, December 11th, from 8:15 p.m. The duel is also available in the RTL media library.