There are a few things you can count on when you watch Kids Baking Championship: adorable contestants, surprisingly grown-up desserts and, inevitably, some tears. Usually it's the kids who cry, but during the third season, Duff gets emotional too. "They were just baking their hearts out. I couldn't help it," he says. It's easy to understand why he and co-host Valerie Bertinelli become so attached to their pintsize proteges: The two stars not only host the show, but they also serve as mentors and judges, spending up to six hours a day critiquing, consoling and, yes, even crying with the contestants. "These kids have such backbone," says Duff. "If you were to critique my food the way we do theirs, I'd be like, 'You're wrong!'" Valerie agrees: "I could never be as poised as they are." Take a look behind the scenes.