18 contestants were brought to the U.S. Army's training facility. Upon arriving, Ramsay popped out of a military tank and explained that he needed to make sure the contestants have the discipline needed to survive. The sergeants directed the contestants to get into their military uniforms and begin the obstacle course. Ramsay originally tasked them to climb a wall, but the wall fell on top of him (with a paper section that ripped where he was standing), revealing Hell's Kitchen and a group of people, leading to the signature dish challenge.

Team challenge/signature dish: The contestants had 45 minutes to create their signature dish and present it to Ramsay in front of a live audience, where he rated each dish on a scale of 1–5. Pat's sea bass and citrus risotto scored 3 in the first round, but Gia's shrimp and grits scored 4. Aaron's schnitzel scored 4, while Wendy's tomato soup scored a disappointing 2. Both Paulie's biscotti-encrusted scallops and Heather's seared ribeye amazed Ramsay and scored a perfect 5 each. Both Devin's bacon-wrapped scallops and Kimberly's pasta and clams disappointed, only scoring 1. Matt's dove breast bolognese also earned a disappointing 1, but Aziza's salmon, also disappointing, scored a 2, tying the scores. Genaro's duck breast also scored 1, but Ryan's seared scallops impressed Ramsay, earning another perfect 5 and giving the women the lead. Koop's pork cheek and scallops scored 4, while Shaina's salmon en croute scored 3. Andrew's pan-roasted halibut scored a disappointing 2, while Jessica's dish was spat out and scored 1. Lastly, Johnny's steak and farro scored 4, giving the men a 25–23 lead, but Heidi's ricotta gnocchi also scored 4, giving the women the win, 27–25.

Reward/punishment: The women rode a hummer limo to Takami Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, where they had a special sushi dinner with Ramsay and previous winners Christina Machamer and Scott Commings from Seasons 4 and 12, respectively. The men cleaned the kitchens, prepped the dining room for the opening night, and transported the risers out of Hell's Kitchen, under the direction of Marino. While Pat sat out of the punishment, Marino and the others made fun of Matt's bolognese, which cost them their chance at winning.

Service: In attendance for opening night were Nolan Gould and Erica Ash. Ryan and Kimberly and Aaron and Koop served tableside linguine and clams. The women got off to a strong start on appetizers, while the men struggled as Pat sent up a deep-fried risotto, followed by one with too much salt, leading to Paulie taking over the station. Matt sent up raw scallops, blaming Andrew for pushing him to bring it up and suggesting that Ramsay check the camera footage to verify this, only for Ramsay to threaten to "stick a GoPro up his ass" if he made another excuse for unacceptable scallops. Matt and Genaro then got kicked out for sending up an overcooked and an undercooked sea bass. Paulie moved to fish, but also served raw bass, causing Ramsay to kick the rest of the men out, while the women finished a solid opening night dinner service thanks to Jessica cooking perfect fish and Heather doing well on the meat station.

Elimination: Though Paulie was willing to nominate himself, Johnny saved him and argued that Matt should go up for his disrespectful attitude towards Ramsay. Matt and Pat were ultimately nominated. Despite Matt's bad attitude during his plea, Ramsay eliminated Pat for his poor performance on the appetizer station and surrendering full control to Paulie.

Pat's comment: "I'm definitely angry that I'm getting sent home tonight. I'm pissed! The whole blue team had a horrible performance tonight, and they all pull me out, because they're expecting me to be, like, super chef. Now, the hardest thing is gonna be going home and facing my class. I think I'm gonna take a little vacation and hide out for a couple of weeks."

Team challenge: The chefs were brought to a raceway, where they were greeted by Ramsay in a race car. Ramsay informed them that for this challenge, they would be partaking in the first-ever Crepe Grand Prix. The teams had to cook the perfect chicken-and-mushroom-stuffed crepes and race in golf carts to deliver the crepes to Ramsay. Whichever team delivered 10 perfect crepes to Ramsay first would be the winners of this challenge. The men narrowly won their first challenge after the women's last crepe was rejected.

Reward/punishment: The men went out to sea on a luxury yacht, where they had lunch with Marino and went jet-skiing. The women took in a delivery of fish and prepped them for the next service. They also had milkshakes consisting of raw scallops, fish guts, and fish eyes for lunch, causing Wendy and Aziza to vomit, though Wendy took it harder than Aziza did. Shaina received a real chocolate milkshake, but did not tell her team out of fear of upsetting them until she fessed up to it when asked by Ramsay before service, irritating Heidi.

Service: Noureen DeWulf and Dash Mihok were in attendance. Johnny, Paul, Heidi, and Shaina handled the Dover sole appetizer. In the women's kitchen, Jessica served soupy carbonara and was confused on appetizers, but rebounded. On the fish station, Gia shocked Ramsay by asking if she should work dessert, despite still being on entrees. Kimberly sent up raw lamb, but recovered and the women got through the rest of the night without further incidents. However, in the men's kitchen, Aaron overdressed a kale salad, while Andrew forgot an order of scallops, setting his team back. Aaron made another mistake by not rolling his pizzas properly and trying to cook two of them on the same paddle. During entrees, Genaro sent up raw New York strip twice, causing Ramsay to take drastic measures and called the women to take over service in the men's kitchen, while kicking the men out of their second service in a row.

Elimination: Genaro and Aaron were nominated. While Aaron was called out for his inexperience, Ramsay eliminated Genaro for his lack of passion and second consecutive poor service performance.

Genaro's comment: "I'm extremely disappointed that I'm going home right now. I have a lot of passion and fight in me. Sadly, my teammates didn't see that. I know I'm a good cook. My fiancée knows I'm a great chef, and I tried, you know. That's all we can ever do. I'm a winner in my eyes."

Team challenge: The chefs entered the dining room to see Ramsay surrounded by dozens of ostrich eggs. They were instructed to prepare dishes of ostrich meat with the only ingredients they could use hidden inside the eggs. They were given four minutes to smash as many eggs as they can to reveal their ingredients, then 40 minutes to prepare their ostrich dishes, with Ramsay and Chefs David McMillan and Frédéric Morin, owners of Joe Beef in Montreal, Quebec, judging the dishes. The women won 3-1, since Johnny made two dishes that the judges called "kids' food" and Wendy's dish was proclaimed the best.

Reward/punishment: The women flew in private jets to Big Bear Lake, California, where they went ziplining. The men cleaned up the mess the ostrich eggs left behind from the challenge and took in a delivery of pinecones, in which they pulled out the pine nuts to make a pesto that would be served as part of a tableside appetizer during the next night's service. During the punishment, Matt angrily sulked in the dorm, even lashing out at Aaron and threatening to quit the competition. After Ramsay heard about Matt's outburst, he called him into his office for a pep-talk and Matt decided to stay, though was met with backlash from his teammates for not pulling his weight.

Service: Andrew and Jessica each served rock shrimp pesto tagliatelle tableside. The men stumbled when Koop made too much risotto, despite being perfectly cooked, but he recovered. Paulie served Ramsay overcooked, then burnt scallops, much to Ramsay's anger. Recovering from his earlier meltdown, Matt stepped up and helped Paulie create a successful plate of scallops. Despite Aaron burning mashed potatoes on entrees, the men regrouped and successfully finished their first dinner service. In the women's kitchen, Kimberly overcooked scallops but recovered. On meat, despite Gia's first lamb being perfectly cooked, she overcooked the next one and sliced her wellingtons poorly, which she claimed was due to cutting off part of her finger. However, the injury was hardly noticeable. Marino reported Jessica's overcooked tagliatelle to Ramsay while she attempted to start over. However, Ramsay called her back to the kitchen and showed the team Kimberly's raw salmon and Gia's raw Wellington, before kicking them all out of service.

Elimination: The women unanimously agreed on Gia as the first nominee, but Jessica nominated herself, even though the team had a strong case against Kimberly. Despite Gia's horrendous performance, she revealed that Jessica had packed her bags prior to the elimination. This led to Ramsay eliminating Jessica for giving up and failing to demonstrate the confidence and fightback to become a head chef, making her the first contestant in the show's history to be eliminated after a service where they were on tableside.

Jessica's comment: "I think Gia should've went home over me. I am a strong cook, and I do belong in this kitchen. But I think my downfall was putting myself up on the chopping block. Yeah, I shouldn't have done that."

Team challenge: The chefs entered to see Ramsay standing in front of a variety of proteins. The teams were divided into pairs. One at a time, each pair would taste one of the four surf-and-turf entrees in front of them, run over to the wide array of meats, select one meat and fish which they think the entree was made up of and place them on their platform. However, Ramsay cannot tell them which meats are wrong. The team to correctly guess the two meats in all four dishes in the shortest amount of time would win. The men decide to pair chefs with strong palates with those with weak ones, thereby ensuring that there was at least one chef with a good palate in each pair; Paulie went twice as the men were short one member. The women take a slightly different track with Heidi and Ryan pairing up due to their friendship despite Shaina suggesting pairing up the way the men did. The women ended up taking over 13 minutes, mainly due to Shaina and Aziza (whose palates were the two weakest), while the men finished with just under four minutes to spare, winning the challenge.

Reward/punishment: The men went surfing at The Wave House in San Diego. The women made sausages from scratch and had a bizarre platter consisting of unappetizing items, such as pig feet and tarantula, for lunch. Before the punishment, Shaina argued with Ryan about pairing up with Heidi instead of someone with a weak palate. Ryan insists the reason they lost was lack of hustle. In a deleted scene from this episode, despite being included in the opening video in the first episode, Wendy cut her fingernails after she stuck her hand in the grinder, unaware that Heidi was running it. This accident required Wendy to receive urgent care.

Service: Ramsay raised the stakes when he announced that each team would be working half of a 12-top table, consisting of several pregnant women. In addition, Pooch Hall was also a guest in the dining room. Wendy and Devin served mussels and sausage tableside. In the women's kitchen, Aziza deep-fried her scallops after adding too much oil to the pan. The women managed to finish cooking their entrees for the 12-top, but were forced to wait on Gia's garnish, resulting in Ryan assisting. Meanwhile, in the men's kitchen, Koop sent up ice-cold lobster, but managed to recover. The men also grew frustrated with Aaron for not communicating, even though his meats were cooked perfectly. Despite almost finishing service, on the last ticket, Aaron sent up an undercooked Wellington, while Koop sent up an overcooked sea bass and the men were kicked out of the kitchen for the third time.

Elimination: The men nominated Koop and Aaron. However, Ramsay spared them both and decided to eliminate Gia for her bad attitude, second consecutive poor performance, and losing the faith of her team, making her the seventh chef to be eliminated despite being on the winning team.

Gia's comment: "I'm in shock. I don't even know what happened. I don't know why I'm standing here. I'm not happy to be leaving under these circumstances. I think somebody else deserved to out here. Who? I don't give a fuck, but I wasn't up for elimination. So the person that was up for elimination should be out here."

Team challenge: After being greeted by a group of singing sailors on a makeshift pirate ship in the dining room, the chefs chose an opponent on the opposite team, while the opponent chose a body of water, with a type of fish written on the back of a scroll held by a sailor. Each pair was then given 30 minutes to cook their assigned fish. Heidi scored over Johnny, as his plate looked like "it had been attacked by a cat". Koop scored over Kimberly, due to her couscous being executed poorly. Shaina and Matt both scored with grouper, while Paulie won over Aziza with wahoo. Ryan scores over Aaron's watery plate, while both Devin and Heather score for their team. Finally, Andrew scored over Wendy with bass, giving the men a 5-4 win.

Reward/punishment: The men had lunch with Ramsay at Petty Cash Taqueria and went bowling at Pinz in Studio City. The women broke down and diced up a large delivery of vegetables for a tableside seafood chowder and prepped both kitchens. The women were already fed up with Kimberly for not cooking her couscous properly and losing the challenge for them, but she made things worse by asking a lot of pointless questions, irritating her teammates.

Service: The chef's tables took center stage with Joe Perry in the men's kitchen and Estelle in the women's kitchen. Matt and Heather each handled the clam chowder tableside. Aziza and Paulie each led well on appetizers. However, in the men's kitchen, Devin served up cold asparagus while Johnny sent up raw salmon. In the women's kitchen, Ryan and Heidi had control of meat and fish, respectively, delivering perfect dishes. They along with Kimberly's strong garnish performance gave the women a strong service, although Ramsay warned Ryan to speak up. The men, on the other hand, sunk as Andrew sent up raw New York Strips twice, while Johnny burned a salmon and Devin sent up bland creamed spinach, causing the men to get kicked out of service yet again.

Elimination: Aaron, despite having a good performance, and Devin were nominated. Ramsay mentioned one more, but refused to say that individual's name and instead wants his nominee to step forward. Johnny voluntarily stepped forward. Ramsay sent Devin and Johnny back in line, and, to the disgust of the women, eliminated Aaron for his low confidence, inexperience, and failure to gain his team's respect, but praised him for his passion and skill.

Aaron's comment: "I still am, like, baffled on why I got eliminated. It might be, you know, people were playing favorites, because they didn't want their friend to leave. I'm definitely pissed off, but I'm gonna go on and just, you know, make a name for myself definitely. Cooking is my life, so I'm gonna be cooking until probably the day I die."

Team challenge: Similar to a game of Scrabble, the teams were given five minutes to use books to spell out ingredients on a cross board. They then each had 45 minutes to make a dish consisting of any of the ingredients that were spelled out. Since the men were one man down, the women chose Aziza's dish to sit out due to her chicken being undercooked. Ramsay scored each dish on a scale of 1–5. The men went first starting with Paulie earning 1, Devin and Koop each got 4, Matt and Johnny each got 3, and Andrew got 2. The men's total came to 17 points, leaving the door open for the women. Next, the women got off to a strong start with Kimberly and Heidi each earning 4, but Wendy got 2, while Heather and Shaina each scored only 1. Ryan needed to score a perfect 5 to tie the challenge. Although Ramsay deemed her dish the best on the team, he only gave her 4, giving the men their third consecutive challenge win, 17-16.

Reward/punishment: The men rode ice bumper cars at a local ice rink and had dinner at a local steakhouse. The women inflated balloons, prepped the dining room, and baked cookies for family night, as well as organized crayons, which Marino spilled on the floor.

Service: Guests in attendance for family night were Lauren Lapkus and Ciara Hanna. Also in attendance that night, though not credited, were several current and former WWE Superstars, including Mike "The Miz" Mizanin and Alicia Fox. Kimberly and Andrew handled the quesadilla station. Both teams had rocky services. In the women's kitchen, Shaina served raw pizza despite Heidi's warning, Aziza cooked too much garnish ahead of order, Wendy served raw lamb, and Heather served raw salmon. In the men's kitchen, Paulie served a raw burger and undercooked sea bass, Johnny served a raw egg, and Devin undercooked grilled cheese. For the most part, both teams managed to bounce back from their various mistakes. However, despite both teams finishing service with no one ejected, Ramsay announced no winning team due to the numerous mistakes in both kitchens, and told both teams to come up with two nominees.

Elimination: The women nominated Aziza and Wendy, while the men nominated Devin and Paulie. Ramsay eliminated Aziza for being the worst performer of the night, but praised her for her big heart and tenacity.

Aziza's comment: "I don't feel like I'm the worst cook here. I'm upset, but at the same time, I learned so much while being here, so I'm not... disappointed in myself, I just... I know what I have to improve on. So it's just a chapter that's over, and now it starts a new chapter, and you only go up from that."

Team challenge: One chef from each team had to make a Southern dish with the protein that was revealed under their selected dome. Their dishes would then be judged by Ramsay and Chef Chris Hastings. Koop sliced his fingers while cutting celery during the challenge, but started to feel nauseous while he was being treated by the medic. Because of this, his dish was not finished. Shaina beat Johnny on hangar steak, Wendy and Paulie both scored on catfish, Ryan beat Matt on fried chicken, Heidi failed to score on shrimp despite Koop not being able to finish his dish, Andrew beat Heather on pork chop, and neither Devin nor Kimberly scored on trout, giving the women a 3-2 win. In addition, Wendy's dish was deemed the best of the day and featured on the menu for the next service.

Reward/punishment: The women went horseback riding and had a Southern lunch prepared by food truck Wings N' Waffles. The men ground the corn and shelled the shrimp for a shrimp and grits appetizer and prepped both kitchens. Koop contemplated quitting after his injury, but changed his mind.

Service: The chef's tables featured Adrienne Maloof in the women's kitchen and JJ Redick in the men's kitchen. Also in attendance were Blake Lewis and Mircea Monroe. Devin and Ryan handled the shrimp and grits appetizer. The men had a decent performance, their only problems being Andrew serving soggy catfish and Koop serving a raw Wellington. The women had a rocky service; Despite Kimberly's strong performance on appetizers, Shaina struggled on meat, serving overcooked then raw chicken for Maloof's table, while Wendy struggled with her own catfish dish. After Shaina served raw and overcooked wellingtons and Wendy served raw catfish twice, Ramsay kicked the women out.

Team change: Shaina and Wendy were both nominated. Ramsay called Wendy down first, but also told Shaina to take off her jacket, and then switched both of them for Andrew and Matt.

Team challenge: Ramsay announced that the next dinner service will be the first-ever Hell's Kitchen International Ballroom Invitational. Both teams had 40 minutes to work together to come up with a pair of chicken, beef, and fish entrees packed with international flavor. Dancers Jonathan Roberts and Michelle Johnston would not only judge the dancing competition the next night, but also pick the dishes that would be on the menu. Wendy's chicken al pastor scored for the blue team, but Kimberly's miso sea bass with vegetables and Ryan's Indian-inspired pan-seared filet won it for the red team, 2-1.

Reward/punishment: The red team went kayaking in Santa Barbara and had a seafood dinner at The Lark. The blue team prepped the raw bar by hand-washing the oysters and clams, as well as breaking down the lobsters.

Service: The red team turned a near perfect service, their only error being Matt burning scallops, but Ryan and Kimberly put in strong performances on meat. The blue team had a very rocky service. Wendy forgot to cook carbonara and Paulie cooked too many risottos too early. Things got worse on the entrées as Johnny failed to sear the bass he was working on despite Shaina asking if they should, with Johnny not taking her advice prior to service, and also served raw bass, while Devin served raw chicken while forgetting a portion. With the blue team 10 tables behind the red team including the judge's table, Ramsay lost his patience, threw the blue team out of the kitchen for the fifth time and sent the red team, except Heather who was on desserts, to finish their service for them.

Elimination: The blue team failed to decide among Wendy, Johnny, and Paulie, so all three of them were called forward for nomination, though no reason is made for the nominations, making it the second time in Hell's Kitchen history since Season 6 any nominees were called down with no explanation given. Johnny was eliminated for his second disastrous performance on fish, refusal to take responsibility for his mistakes, and for being the main reason for the blue team's defeat.

Johnny's comment: "It is disgusting that my team let me go down. And I stepped it up. All these people here say they're these all high-class chefs, they suck, and for me to be standing here right now, I want to rip out the beautiful hair in my head!"

Team challenge: For the annual blind taste test challenge, each chef had correctly identify the ingredient they were tasting in pureed baby food. Each pair took a turn before taking a seat in the high chair while the other pair goes next. The chef in the high chair would be splattered in baby food once if their teammate gets three wrong and twice for four wrong. Wendy went twice due to the blue team being one chef down. Wendy scored a perfect 4 (becoming the third person to do so after Justin from Season 10 and Milly from Season 14) whilst Heidi scored 2. Devin only scored 1, resulting in Wendy getting splattered once, whilst Kimberly scored 3. Koop managed 2 whilst Ryan got 1, resulting in Kimberly getting splattered once. Paulie scored 3 and Matt scored 2. Heather scored 3 whilst Shaina scored 2. In the final round, Andrew scored 2 whilst Wendy scored 1, resulting in Shaina getting splattered once. With the score tied at 13, the taste test went into sudden death. After Wendy and Andrew both missed cabbage, resulting in Shaina and Heather getting splattered, Wendy won it for the blue team by identifying turnips.

Reward/punishment: The blue team were rewarded with a spa day and lunch at a penthouse suite at the InterContinental Los Angeles Hotel. The red team took in deliveries of ice and wine and prepped both kitchens. They did not read the invoice and unloaded 102 bags of ice instead of 52, forcing them to take back the extra ice, angering Heidi. The team accused Matt of not reading the invoice.

Service: Guests in attendance for this service were Josh McDermitt and Jeannie Mai. The red team, once again, seemingly had a near perfect service (although Ramsay later told them it was "far from perfect"). The only problem was Matt forgetting a portion of lamb, but he recovered. The blue team had a flawless performance on appetizers thanks to Devin and Shaina, but struggled on entrées. Paulie served raw lamb, and Koop was caught cooking salmon and sea bass in the same pan and argued with Paulie over cooking times. After Paulie sent up another raw lamb, Ramsay lost his temper and ejected the blue team yet again, which was their series-record sixth time thrown out of the kitchen, while telling them to eat their mistakes. When they returned to the dorms, Koop lost his temper and threw a chair at a wall, breaking it.

Elimination: Koop and Paulie were nominated. Devin stated that one of the reasons Paulie was nominated was due to sending up raw lamb and cold Wellingtons (not shown during the episode). Upon learning from Paulie about Koop's earlier temper tantrum, Ramsay eliminated Koop for his inconsistent performances and feeling that he was not backing up all of his talk, much to Devin and Wendy's dismay. Ramsay then dismisses the blue team and asks the red team decide by the next morning on one member to go the blue team.

Koop's comment: "I'm pissed off right now. Paulie definitely deserves to be out here. Anytime Paulie makes a mistake, it's not Paulie's fault. He thinks he's much better than he is. I'm tired of listening to people say how good they are when they're not. Fuck you, Paulie, you fucking little ingrate piece of shit Napoleon complex motherfucker."

Team change: The next morning, the red team chose Ryan to join the blue team.

Team challenge: Each chef decided on what protein they wanted to use to create their own sliders, then slid into a ball pit and picked an ingredient from their respective color balls before heading back into the kitchen to make their sliders. They had 40 minutes to choose their ingredients and cook their sliders, which would then be judged by Ramsay, Adam Fleischman, Sang Yoon, and Season 10 winner Christina Wilson. Paulie beat Matt on the seafood round, with Matt arguing with the judges when they criticized him for serving a shrimp roll, which was not technically a slider. Heather beat Shaina on beef, Heidi beat Devin on chicken, both Wendy and Kimberly scored on pork, and Ryan beat Andrew on lamb, tying the score at 3. The judges chose Heidi's chicken sliders as the overall best dish of the day, resulting in another red team victory.

Reward/punishment: The red team were welcomed into the fabulous Playboy Mansion by Crystal Hefner and the Playboy Bunnies, where they also got to hang out in the mansion's famous grotto. The blue team were sent to clean the LA River.

Service: Crystal Hefner was a guest in attendance. In addition, each kitchen featured a pair of VIP guests at the chef's table. Melissa Rivers and Drew Scott sat in the blue kitchen while the red kitchen had Drew's twin brother Jonathan Scott and Ashley Greene. The red team started off poorly by Matt's overcooked lobster for the chef's table and him giving Ramsay an attitude. Ramsay sent the red team to the storeroom where Matt angrily argued with Heather. When they returned, Heidi served a bland risotto that sat for a while when the team entered the storeroom. Ramsay issued that if one more mistake was made, he would kick them out. They finished appetizers without further problems, but after Kimberly served dry garnish on the first table of entrées, Ramsay kicked the red team out. In the blue kitchen, Ryan served cold crab cakes, but recovered. Entrées went worse when Shaina sent watery garnish and Wendy struggled to communicate, ultimately serving raw chicken for the chef's table. However, it was her overcooked New York strip that caused Ramsay to kick the blue team out yet again, as well.

Elimination: The red team nominated Matt and Kimberly while the blue team nominated Wendy and Shaina. Shaina was first eliminated for her worsening performances despite a strong start to the season, but she was praised for her heart, passion, and cooking ability. Ramsay then sent Kimberly and Wendy back in line, and eliminated Matt for his arrogance, poor performance on fish, refusal to admit his mistakes, and horrendous attitude, as well as being on a severe downward spiral since being moved to the red team. This marked the second time in Hell's Kitchen history since Season 11 that two people were eliminated on the same night as a result of the traditional elimination process.

Shaina's comment: "This is one of the hardest things I've fought for in life. I got three girls at home. I'm proud to show my daughters how far I've come. I felt like I fought and stuck in it, and I got the opportunity. I lasted as long as I could."

Matt's comment: "Chef Ramsay is an asshole. Like, I have one bad night service, and everything else I do flawlessly, and then I go home when everybody else fucks up every fucking night? The whole time I've been here has been nothing but disrespect. If I was on the street right now, and he came up to me with that same shit, I'd fuck him up, point-blank."

Team challenge: The chefs paired up and had 30 minutes to remake Ramsay's signature dish while identifying an ingredient they are tasting with one chef tasting the dish and the other making it. Andrew and Heather were the only pair to correctly identify the greens as Swiss chard and mistake apricot puree for persimmon. Ryan and Wendy won for the blue team as they were the only pair to correctly identify the protein as veal; everyone else used pork.

Reward/punishment: The blue team took trapeze lessons at Santa Monica Pier. However, Wendy did not participate in the reward due to her phobia of heights. In addition, Ryan and Wendy were rewarded their very own Vitamix blenders. The red team decorated the dining room ahead of that night's service and made beet roses.

Service: Ramsay announced that this service would be a very special private event for the contributors from Stand Up to Cancer. Each chef per team worked on one of the four courses. Notable guests in attendance include Jacqueline Toboni, Marg Helgenberger, Danielle Campbell, Omar J. Dorsey and co-founder Pamela Oas Williams. Each chef took charge of a course, cooking twelve portions. On the lobster risotto course, Wendy made four differently colored portions and Kimberly plated different sized portions, but both recovered. Both Devin and Andrew led the scallops course without incident though Paulie tried to drop his course early. On the salmon course led by Heidi and Paulie, Paulie took Wendy's potatoes before she got to put capers in it which caused a delay on the blue table, while Ramsay called for Heidi to be more vocal. On the New York strip course led by Heather and Ryan, each led well and did not face problems apart from Devin cutting his hand while slicing the meat. The red team won due to the blue team committing more "mental errors".

Elimination: Wendy and Paulie were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Wendy for her lack of confidence and inconsistent performances, but praised her for her phenomenal palate and determination.

Wendy's comment: "I'm proud of myself for making it this far. I struggled, I tried, I should have, you know, maybe portrayed more confidence from the beginning like everybody else, but I hate those chefs who think that they are the best shit since sliced bread and suck. A wise man thinks he's a fool, and a fool thinks he knows everything, and that house is full of fools."

Team challenge: One member from the blue team and one member from the red team spun a wheel to determine which country they would be working with. Heather and Ryan got Japanese and French (two cuisines Ryan did not want). Kimberly and Devin got French and Chinese. Finally, Paulie's wheel landed on Mexican while Andrew landed on the special "Chef's Choice", which he used to pick Indian. Because the red team had an extra member, Heidi was allowed to choose which fusion cuisine she would cook, and she picked Ryan and Heather's combo. They then had 45 minutes to create a dish combining their assigned countries. Ramsay and Chef Roy Yamaguchi judged each pair head to head. Neither Paulie nor Andrew scored on Mexican-Indian, Ryan beat both Heidi and Heather on Japanese-French despite Paulie's skepticism, her unfamiliarity with this combo and her fears that her rack of lamb was undercooked. Kimberly beat Devin on French-Chinese to force a 1–1 tie, but Yamaguchi chose Ryan's dish as the best, giving the blue team the win.

Reward/punishment: The blue team were rewarded with a $2,000 kitchenware shopping spree at Surfas, followed by a seven-course lunch at Providence. The red team broke down a massive side of beef and prepped potatoes to make potato gratin for the next service.

Service: Guests dining in attendance were Kellita Smith, Jasika Nicole, Patrick Renna, and Tommy Savas. For the red team, one guest on Kellita Smith's table returned a salad for having hair in it, causing Heather and Heidi to argue over who was responsible, while Kimberly prepared the scallops that the guest requested instead. Kimberly was then berated for not having her fish ready before Heidi's meat, but the red team successfully completed service after that. The blue team, however, had a rough service. Ryan misheard an order of appetizers and accidentally threw out a serving of risotto needed, Devin forgot an order on meat and undercooked veal chops twice, which caused Paulie to run out of sea bass, forcing him to get more from the red team. After completing service, Ramsay congratulated the red team on another win.

Elimination: The blue team were instructed to pick only one nominee. They picked Devin, who wanted Ryan as his nominee. After each chef gave their plea, Ramsay tells Paulie to say goodbye to Devin, who was eliminated his inconsistent performance across all services and challenges, but was praised for his passion and big heart.

Devin's comment: "I honestly feel I should not be standing up here right now, but that's the way the cookie crumbled. And to have Chef Ramsay tell me that I was not worthy of the black jacket, it's very humbling. But to last this long is very awesome. I gotta give myself a pat on the back. I am awesome at what I do, and I'm always gonna stay true to myself."

The chefs received a surprise visit from their loved ones: Kimberly's daughter and boyfriend; Paulie's parents; Andrew's grandmother and girlfriend; Ryan's daughter and mother; Heather's son, mother, and grandmother; and Heidi's daughter and husband. Unlike the previous seasons, Ramsay announced a Hell's Kitchen first where the chefs would face a grueling three-part challenge that would determine who will the prestigious black jacket.

Black Jacket Challenge 1: In the adaptability challenge, each chef had 30 minutes to create a dish out of the surprise ingredients they had to retrieve from each dome right after Ramsay rang the bell. Heather's French chicken breast and Heidi's duck breast earned them the first two black jackets, and they also received passes to the Black Jacket Lounge.

Black Jacket Challenge 2: The remaining chefs had 30 minutes to make a dish using the following ingredients in a locked briefcase: cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms, white beans, baby eggplant, salmon. Ryan and Paulie came out on top after Kimberly ruined her puree by putting eggplant in it and Andrew's eggplant tasted bitter due to being undercooked.

Black Jacket Challenge 3: Kimberly and Andrew had three minutes to pick their own ingredients at a farmer's market outside of Hell's Kitchen, then 30 minutes to create two portions of a dish. Kimberly made a filet with a variety of mushrooms, while Andrew made a New York strip with bordelaise and a potato puree. After Ramsay tasted the dishes, he revealed that he would not be picking the chef to receive the final black jacket. He instead tested their peers by having the black jackets individually taste each dish, without knowing who made what.

Elimination: Ramsay assembled everyone in the dining room, finally revealing which dish was made by Kimberly and Andrew. Ironically, Andrew's closest allies, Heather and Paulie, voted for Kimberly's filet, while Heidi and Ryan voted for Andrew's New York Strip, gridlocking the vote in a tie. Ramsay had to break the tie and picked Kimberly to advance, eliminating Andrew due to the texture of his potato puree, but encouraged him to continue his career.

Andrew's comment: "I am extremely shocked that I'm out here, I'm pissed at myself, I'm, you know, disappointed in myself. I thought I'd at least be in the finale, God forbid, let alone a black jacket. I really let myself down, I feel I kind of let my son down and everyone back home, so it's a rough feeling right now."

When the final five went to the Black Jacket Lounge, Heidi comforted Paulie, who was upset his closest ally had been eliminated in part through his vote, though Paulie was in no mood for it.

Challenge: The newly-minted final five faced each other in a race to grab cards containing three additional ingredients after the three required ingredients (chicken, potatoes, smoked bacon) were provided by Ramsay via cards. Heidi was the last chef to not yet have her three ingredients, so Ramsay handed her the last card, which turned out to reveal lemon. They then had 30 minutes to cook with their chosen ingredients, with Ramsay and Chef Jenn Louis judging each dish, in order to sit on the high chair, where any chef could sit by beating the dish currently there. Kimberly impressed the judges with her dish, but Paulie quickly overtook her, and held off Heidi and Ryan, only for Heather to defeat him and secure victory.

Reward/punishment: Heather spent the night in the Presidential Suite at the Venetian in Las Vegas and chose Heidi to join her. The others had to sort trash and recycling.

Service: Each chef took a turn in assisting Ramsay while Andi and Aaron sat at the chef's table. Guests in attendance were Neil Everett, Pauly Shore, and Erik Griffin. The service was very rocky. Kimberly undercooked risotto, overcooked carbonara, and also struggled to plate while as a sous chef. Paulie struggled on fish, serving undercooked scallops and raw lobster, then called out the wrong order during his turn as sous chef. Heather led well as a sous chef and took over for Paulie on fish, serving overcooked scallops and raw sea bass, but recovered. Paulie was transferred to garnish after his turn as sous chef, but his raw pancetta, along with Kimberly panicking on appetizers, caused everyone to get kicked out while the sous chefs step in to help Ramsay, leaving Heidi the only chef not to have a chance at being the sous chef.

Elimination: Kimberly and Paulie were nominated. Kimberly admitted that this service had been rough for her, but felt like she had been improving as a chef under Ramsay's guidance and asked for another chance. Paulie, meanwhile, blamed his nomination on the fact that he was the only male left in the competition. Ramsay eliminated Kimberly for her poor performance as a sous chef and her lack of composure on the appetizer station, but praised her improvement throughout the competition. Ramsay then eliminated Paulie for his arrogance, inconsistent performances, and refusal to take responsibility for any of his mistakes, although he praised his determination in the face of adversity. With Paulie's elimination, this made the third-ever all-female final three (and the third in a row). Ramsay gave no comment on Kimberly and Paulie's eliminations.

Kimberly's comment: "When I first came here, no one believed in me. I actually didn't even really believe in myself, but I've come a long way from my canned clams and my crappy pappardelle. I showed that I can progress. There are some people I totally hated and just wanted to punch. But, for the most part, it's been a positive experience that I will never, ever forget. And at the end of the day, I can keep smiling and know I did my best, and even if it wasn't good enough, to me, it was."

Paulie's comment: "I definitely think I've learned a lot. Chef Ramsay's got a strange method of teaching, but, you know, I'm a little hard-headed, so sometimes you need a kick in the ass. But I think that's because he saw potential. It definitely made me better and hungrier to do well, and it's gonna spur me on even harder. I definitely had a lot of fun, you know, just meeting some good people. This competition's something I'll never forget. This dream is over, but it's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get up. You gotta come back, and you gotta come harder."

In the recap of the previous episode, Kimberly and Paulie's jackets were hung and their photos burned.

Challenge: For the first part of their challenge, the final three were sent to Whole Foods Market, where they were given 15 minutes to shop for ingredients to create their own unique tableside entree. The next morning, they were given 15 minutes to cook their entrees for each table, where multiple judges were seated. Ryan won by a landslide vote of 62.5%.

Reward/punishment: Ryan went on a helicopter tour of Los Angeles with Andi and had lunch with Ramsay at Firefly. Heather and Heidi worked on wrapping gifts for the Hell's Kitchen waitstaff, as well as steaming their uniforms and polishing their shoes.

Service: Tara Reid was a guest at the chef's table, while Adrián González, Matt Letscher, and Taylor-Ann Hasselhoff were among the guests in attendance that night. Each chef took turns at running the pass while trying to correctly identify an error that the sous chefs made. Heidi began first at the hot plate, mistaking edamame for peas in a carbonara, but catching carrot puree in a risotto instead of butternut squash puree. However, Heather stalled with unseared scallops and a broken scallop. Heather, at the pass, mistook Arctic char for salmon and also did not notice Marino giving her a ticket for a snapper (which was not on the menu), but overall ran the pass well. Ryan ran the pass last, during which Heidi undercooked risotto and took too long to deliver the refire. Although Ryan had difficulty reading two two-tops tickets together and was fooled by black garlic puree as opposed to the black bean puree, she successfully caught a celery mash instead of potato puree.

Elimination: At elimination, both Ryan and Heidi decided that Heather did not belong in the finale, with a lack of experience and inconsistent performances being their respective reasons. Heather nominated Ryan, due to her lack of strong communication. Ramsay revealed the first chef to move to the final is Heather, while the second chef is Ryan, eliminating Heidi. However, he praised her for her strength in the competition, and allowed her to keep her jacket, but still gave her the picture burning elimination sequence.

Heidi's comment: "I'm upset that I'm leaving, but I'm so grateful in how far I've been. My journey in Hell's Kitchen has been a roller coaster. There's been ups and downs, but I've just been able to stay focused. I still can't contemplate all the stuff that I've been able to do. In Maine, there's no way I would've been able to do any of this stuff. I've grown so much, I'm confident in what I'm doing. I'm just excited to see what's next now."

After the sous chefs delivered breakfast to the final two, Ryan worked on her menu with Aaron, while Heather worked on hers with Andi. Andi also surprised Ryan and Heather with a makeover at Ken Paves Salon in addition to being VIP guests at the Saban Theatre. And what was thought to be a new musical starring Rob Morrow, who welcomed Ramsay, Heather, and Ryan backstage, turned out to be the finalists' final challenge that will be held in front of a live audience including their families.

Challenge: The finalists had one hour to create four dishes and present them to a panel of judges, including Yardbird CEO/founder John Kunel. At the beginning of the judging, Ramsay explained that for every round, the winning chef would immediately get to draft one of eight prior eliminated chefs.^{[lower-alpha 1]} Heather won the appetizer round and selected Andrew, which did not surprise him, much to Ryan's disgust. Ryan won the fish entree round and selected Heidi. Heather then won the chicken and beef entrees and selected Kimberly and Shaina. Ryan chose Paulie, and Heather lastly picked Devin, leaving Ryan with Koop and Wendy.

Service: It was a star-studded final dinner service that featured several notable guests in attendance including C.J. Wilson, Andrea Roth, Danny Trejo, Naomi Grossman, and the finalists' families. Heather's kitchen started out strong on appetizers despite Heather accidentally calling out two tables at once, causing Devin to forget the order and Andrew to bring up his scallops too early. In Ryan's kitchen, Paulie was very bitter about having to work for Ryan despite having no material incentive to perform well and thus gave her little respect and mouthed off to her. He sent up cold meatballs, but Ryan forced him back in line and Ramsay accused him of sabotaging her service. During the entrees, Heather's leadership began to fall apart, being sent overcooked ribeye by Kimberly, under seasoned asparagus from Andrew, and raw bass from Shaina, forcing Ramsay to give her a pep talk. When Kimberly's refire was late and raw, Heather made the difficult decision to send the table incomplete, but regained control of her team afterwards. Another raw ribeye from Kimberly forced Heather to move Devin to the meat station and Kimberly to desserts. In Ryan's kitchen, Wendy served raw salmon twice, forcing Ryan to switch her to meat in exchange for Koop. Both services ended on a positive note.

Winner: As per Hell's Kitchen tradition, Ryan and Heather stood in front of a pair of doors in Ramsay's office. Ryan's door opened, making her the sixteenth winner of Hell's Kitchen; Heather took her defeat graciously. Ryan gave a victory speech and hung her picture in the Hall of Fame.

Heather's comment: "I'm gonna need tissues. At the end of the day, I made it to the finale, so I'm proud of myself, and I'm proud of the job that I've done here. You have not seen the last of Heather... at all."

Ryan's comment: "I just won Hell’s Kitchen! I won! Everything was worth it! I came so far, I’ve worked so hard to push myself through culinary school, to be a single mom, and now to be sitting here as the winner of Hell’s Kitchen? This is unreal. This is absolutely incredible. To see Sophie celebrating, and to see her face, and see how proud of me she is, it means more than words can ever say."