Sixteen chefs arrive at Hell's Kitchen, and are greeted by Marino and the Sous Chefs, who serve them butternut squash risotto for lunch. After lunch, Ramsay revealed himself and announced the grand prize for that season. After half of the chefs (the rookies) explain their credentials, the other half reveal themselves to actually be returning chefs from previous seasons, much to the rookies' shock. Ramsay then revealed that for the first time, he would be pitting rookies against veterans (rather than men against women), with the rookies cooking in the red kitchen under Sous Chef Christina, and the veterans cooking in the blue kitchen under Sous Chef Jocky.

Team challenge/signature dish: For this year, the veterans had to recreate the rookies' signature dishes. The rookies not only received the ingredients they wanted for their dishes but also got to pick which veteran they wanted to cook against. Both teams had 45 minutes to cook their dishes, to be rated on a scale from 1-5. The teams tied at 29 points, only the second such occurrence in the signature dish challenge, after season 8. This was also the first time under the new scoring format that nobody's signature dish received a 1. For the tie-breaker, Ramsay called up Mia and Kevin, who had the best dish on each team, and after a second look, he gave Mia's dish the edge, and the rookies won their first challenge.

Reward/punishment: The rookies celebrate their first challenge win with dinner at Charcoal in Venice Beach with Ramsay and chef Josiah Citrin. The veterans prep for opening night by deshelling the sunflower seeds and detailing the mushrooms. Jen earned her teammates' ire for costing them the challenge, pureeing mushrooms for duxelles without cleaning them, and giving attitude to Sous Chef Jocky. She and Bret started to get on each other's nerves over their conflicting personalities but started to warm up to him when he revealed his tattoos in memory of his deceased parents.

Challenge – Part 2: Continuing from the previous episode Ramsay revealed that the lobster risotto from the menu, which has been a staple dish since the beginning of the series, was going to be retired. Instead, each chef would have an opportunity to prepare their own risotto dish to be added to the menu for the entire season, with the winner also receiving a Punishment Pass, a one-time advantage that allows the bearer to skip out on punishment and join the winning team on their reward. The chefs had 45 minutes to cook their risottos, and Ramsay had each Sous Chef taste the dishes on their team and pick the top four. The rookies were represented by Chris, Gizzy, Mia, and Scott, while the veterans were represented by T, Roe, Ariel, and Bret. In the end, Bret's tomato risotto with grilled shrimp and asparagus beat out Mia's basil and split pea risotto with pancetta, and he won the challenge, although his emotional celebration annoyed the rookies.

Before service: Before service began, the Sous Chefs called both teams down to discuss the new menu items, but had to lecture the rookies for arriving late and separated. While prepping for service, Jocky became irritated with Trev for improperly scoring the Wellingtons, while Christina advised the rookies to use the veterans' arrogance to their advantage.

Service: Don McLean, Annie Wersching, Kyle Schmid, and Courtney Sixx were seen at opening night, and a shrimp and pasta appetizer was served tableside by Roe and Scotley. T served a risotto with more cheese than tomato and Trev served mushy scallops in a small frying pan, but both recovered. On entrees, Bret accidentally sliced his lamb before bringing it to the pass, and Jen was late to serve the sauce for a pork chop. Nevertheless, the veterans finished service on a high note. In the red kitchen, Scott only fired one serving of shrimp for two risottos on order, and was caught cooking more shrimp for the tableside station despite it being Scotley's responsibility. The problems continued on entrees as Jose served raw halibut, Chris wrote down cooking times instead of helping Mia out on meat, and a communication breakdown occurred when nobody could recite an order correctly. After Mia served raw lamb, Ramsay finally had seen enough of the rookies' fragmented performance and threw them out of the kitchen, asking them to name two people for elimination.

Elimination: The rookies nominated Scott and Chris, but Ramsay called down Jose as well. During their pleas, Chris revealed that nine months prior to the competition, he had suffered a major accident that destroyed 90% of his face and also affected his memory. Ramsay was sympathetic but made it clear that Chris needed to fight back. In the end, Chris and Jose were sent back in line and Scott was eliminated for being confused all night, especially for cooking Scotley's tableside dish in the kitchen, and failing to uphold his impressive resume.

Team Challenge: The chefs were tasked with cooking lunch for the Marine Corps. The menu included entrees that represented the air, land, and sea: chicken parmesan with angel hair pasta, New York strip and fritters, and fish and chips. For the rookies, Scotley constantly micromanaged Mia at the fish station, and his misdirection eventually caused a paper towel to catch fire. Gizzy was lectured for waiting for water to boil before putting in pasta. The veterans' service was bumpier, as Jen overdressed a salad, leading Heather, who was supposed to be on French fries, to jump on the station much to Jen's annoyance. Kevin rushed Heather on fries after she forgot to delegate her station, causing an order to be sent back from the blue dining room for being undercooked. Roe served soggy fish, but the veterans rallied behind Kevin's leadership. Ariel sent cold steak on the last ticket, allowing the rookies time to complete their ticket and win their second challenge in a row.

Reward/punishment: The rookies were rewarded with a trip to Paramount Ranch, where they would star in their own Western movie called "Hell's Riders", alongside Marino. Ramsay offered Bret the chance to join them using his punishment pass from the risotto challenge, and Bret accepted, irritating his teammates, who were tasked with preparing calamari for a tableside appetizer. Jen walked out of prep and broke down in tears after getting into an argument with Heather and Ariel over how to prepare beurre blanc sauce (ironically, they thought Jen's from the last prep session was better). Before service began, Ramsay and the sous chefs showed everyone the Hell's Riders trailer.

Service: Aly Michalka was in attendance despite not being mentioned in this service. Mia and Ariel served grilled calamari tableside. Both teams had relatively little trouble with appetizers, except for Motto cooking a risotto off the stove and making it too crunchy, and Trev taking too long to assemble cold appetizers, with Ramsay chiding him for taking a sip of water before serving the appetizers. On entrees, Jen served bland mashed potatoes for the first table, argued about it with Heather and Sous Chef Jocky when they tasted for her, and when Ramsay came in to check on the team, snidely asked what he was about to yell at her for. Scotley provided inconsistent times on his beef wellingtons, which caused Gizzy to overcook halibut, and Ramsay replaced her on the fish station with Jose. Mia entered the kitchen after finishing the tableside orders, helping Kanae catch up on garnish and Jose repeat an order from Sous Chef Christina.

Automatic elimination: Jen stalled the veterans on garnish, refusing to give a clear time, before having duck garnish sent back as she only brought one portion for two ducks on order. When Jen protested that she did send up enough leeks, Ramsay pulled the pan out from under the pass and showed the entire team, but Jen accused Ramsay of throwing the pan there to sabotage her. Ramsay dropped the pan on the floor in a fit of rage and escorted the veterans to the pantry room while Jen unleashed a verbal tirade, continuing to insist that Ramsay had set her up to look bad. Ramsay promptly ordered Jen to remove her jacket and leave through the front door. This marked the 9th time a contestant was eliminated during service. Afterward, the veterans got their entrees out more quickly and neither kitchen made another error.

After service, Ramsay informed both teams that he sent Jen home for attacking his reputation. Then for the second time in two seasons, both teams were declared winners after an automatic disqualification, in lieu of the nomination process. Unlike most chefs who get eliminated during service, Jen still got her coat hung and picture burned at the end of the episode.

Everyone expressed shock over Jen's disrespectful attitude that led to her early departure. Chris, Jose, and Scotley relax in the hot tub while taking turns hitting on Mia, with Trev reassuring her that the two of them would get black jackets but not the other three.

Team Challenge: The sous chefs handed winter jackets to all the contestants. When they went outside, Ramsay had set up an artificial snow slope. He tasked each team to take four runs down the slope in sleds. The blue team finished first, and they were given a 10-second headstart to grab ingredients for the winter soup challenge, where each contestant had 45 minutes to prepare a soup. Ramsay brought in Traci Des Jardins and Brian Boitano as guest judges, and each judge would rate each soup from 1-3 stars. The veterans totaled 41 stars, but Roe and Bret scored the minimum three stars due to insufficient seasoning and canned tomatoes, respectively. (Ironically, Bret saw a fellow competitor make the same mistake on the signature dish back in season 14) Thanks to perfect nines by Mia and Gizzy, the rookies overtook the veterans before Kanae's soup was tasted. Kanae managed to score a perfect nine as well to make the final score 51-41, and it was the rookies' third challenge win in a row.

Reward/punishment: The rookies were rewarded with a day and night of pampering at L'Horizon Resort in Palm Springs and dinner at Sopa, while the veterans had to shovel out the snow and prepare both kitchens for service. Bret took his poor performance very personally, drawing his teammates' ire. Trev struggled to poach eggs during prep, earning Sous-Chef Jocky's criticism once again.

Service: Hayley Orrantia was in attendance. In addition, each team received VIP guests at their respective chef's table. The blue team had Cheryl Hines and Rachael Harris, and the red team had Morgan Spurlock. Gizzy and Bret served tableside clam chowder, but both struggled. The former was criticized for entering the kitchen while attempting to help Mia with flatbreads, while the latter worked slowly, socialized with the customers, and held up his team. Scotley and Mia argued over appetizers, prompting Sous-Chef Christina to intervene. On entrees, Chris forgot about a pork chop for Spurlock's table that Ramsay had put into the oven before service opened, and Ramsay found it burned completely black. Kevin served a cold New York strip, while Motto overcooked steak but recovered. On the next ticket, Kevin overcooked and undercooked lamb chops while rejecting Trev's assistance, leading Ramsay to march the entire blue team into the pantry. When Kevin served the lamb raw again, Ramsay stepped in to cook it himself. Even though nobody was ejected, Ramsay declared both teams losers due to their careless errors and regression from the previous week.

Team Change: The blue team nominated Kevin and Trev, while the red team nominated Chris and Gizzy. After questioning the nominees, Ramsay first asked Kevin and Gizzy for their jackets, then for Trev's jacket, only to send all of them to the opposite team. He then sent Mia and Kanae to the blue team and Bret to the red team, effectively ending the Rookies vs. Veterans experiment in favor of the traditional battle of the sexes, only that the men are now the red team and the women are the blue team. This is the most people in the show's history to switch teams in a single season with six, a record that would be broken in season 21. Notably, Trev was also temporarily transferred to the red team during his first Hell's Kitchen appearance.

Jose and Kevin reflect on the impact their kids have had on their lives.

Team Challenge: Ramsay greeted the chefs with a performance from composer Stephan Moccio, in order to illustrate the importance of working in several different styles. He then asked Marino and the sous chefs to drop a giant fish from the ceiling, in order to introduce today's challenge: the seven chefs on each team would cook halibut in a different manner. Ramsay brought in David Lefevre as a guest judge. Gizzy beat Bret on grilled, despite her concerns that her fish was overcooked. Mia beat Chris on steamed, but Kevin put the men on the board by beating Roe on poached. Kanae beat Scotley on smoked, while Ariel and Jose each scored on shallow-fried. Motto beat Heather on pan-seared to keep the men's hopes alive, but T beat Trev on oven-baked, to give the women their first challenge win of the season by the score of 5-3.

Reward/punishment: The women went on a virtual reality adventure and received Vitamix blenders, while the men had to compost food waste in manure, during which it started raining. Motto was the only one not to complain about the work, as he grew up on a farm and was used to it.

Service: Guests in attendance for this service include Stephanie Beatriz sitting at the red dining table, and Carly Hughes and Sarah Shahi at the blue dining tables. Chris and Heather served tableside mussels, but the former was scolded for loitering in the dining room waiting for tableside orders instead of helping in the kitchen. However, none of Chris's teammates wanted his help until Kevin let him take over on the fish. Nonetheless, Chris still managed to send raw scallops. In the blue kitchen, Ariel brought up two orders of scallops not knowing that T had overcooked one of them. However, T managed to quickly recover and serve acceptable scallops. On entrees, Mia checked wellingtons by slicing them in the middle instead of at the ends, prompting Ramsay to warn her teammates to communicate with her. Gizzy's concerns over undercooking her lamb chops caused T to momentarily take over, but Ramsay confirmed they were perfect, and proceeded to lecture T over not letting Gizzy drive her section. Other than that, the women finished service with no further issues. The men had a much bumpier service. Bret served perfect wellingtons, but Scotley failed to communicate with him on garnish and misinformed Kevin to cook one salmon when two were on order. Realizing the mistake, Kevin tried drenching the second salmon in butter to get it up in time, but it was still raw. Ramsay proceeded to take over the ticket and sent the men into the pantry to regroup, where Scotley irked Kevin by stating that he couldn't keep an eye on the pass anymore. After Bret served cold sauce for a Wellington, a frustrated Ramsay threw the men out while the women finished their last ticket. After service, Ramsay pulled Gizzy aside and advised her to find her voice.

Elimination: The men nominated Scotley and Kevin, although Motto pushed for Bret to go up for getting the team kicked out. After a tough decision, Kevin was eliminated for being nominated twice in a row and not showing the same passion and desire as he did back in Season 6. Before Kevin left, Ramsay gave him encouragement and told him that he was already a successful and talented chef outside Hell's Kitchen.

Team Challenge: For their next challenge, both teams had to make a dish using potato as the main ingredient, and had to collect plastic body parts from Mr. Potato Head to collect their ingredients. Former Top Chef contestant Richard Blais was invited as a guest judge; each judge would award each chef between one and five points. Because the blue team had an extra dish, Kanae's dish was chosen to sit out due to the clunky presentation. The score was tied at 40 apiece, but Ramsay and Blais deemed Chris' lobster shepherd's pie as the best dish overall, and the men won the challenge. Afterward, Ramsay and Blais tasted Kanae's dish and told the women, who saw T and Gizzy score only three points each, that it would have received eight points had it been used.

Reward/punishment: The men visited Animal Tracks and ate lunch at a gourmet food truck, while the women had to prep 100 pounds of potatoes for Steak Night. Kanae got frustrated with T, as it was the latter who not only underperformed but also pushed the hardest to drop the former's dish.

Chris's Exit: Returning from the reward, Chris informed Sous Chef Christina that he wished to leave the competition, as he had not fully recovered from his accident nine months ago and was experiencing emotional turmoil. After Christina informed Ramsay, although he was upset by Chris's decision, he allowed Chris to leave to seek help for the sake of his mental health. This made Chris the tenth person to withdraw from the competition, and the first to do so since his teammate, Bret, in Season 14. Ramsay did not issue a statement on Chris's departure, but his hung jacket and already-burnt picture could be seen next to T and Scotley's when they were later eliminated.

Service: Sitting at the chef's tables were Kelsea Ballerini for the red team and Cornelius Smith Jr. for the blue team. Also attending the service was Titus Welliver. Despite being shorthanded five to seven, the men had a near-perfect service, with Ramsay in particular praising Jose and Trev on appetizers and meat respectively. The only problems were Motto briefly forgetting entree orders until Ramsay got him back on track, and some of Scotley's fish being improperly scored, which he attempted to blame Trev for. On the other side, Mia turned in a strong performance on appetizers. However, the women completely stalled on entrees when Kanae's branzino for the firefighter six top fell apart, then she undercooked the refire. Their service went further south when T and Heather's filets came out raw and overcooked repeatedly, frustrating T to the point of refusing to communicate with Heather, feeling that Heather wasn't doing her job properly. But T brought up another raw steak on the very next ticket, driving Ramsay past the breaking point, and he proceeded to kick the women out of the kitchen and task them with naming two nominees for elimination.

Elimination: The women considered Kanae, but ultimately nominated T and Heather, disappointing Ramsay as both of them were runner-ups in their previous seasons. T was eliminated for her poor performance on meat, and refusal to communicate with Heather during service, but before leaving, Ramsay told T that while she was a very talented chef, he couldn't look past the fact that all the other contestants were performing better than her, meaning that she didn't have the same strength she had back in Season 14.

Team Challenge: To test the teams' communication and teamwork skills, Ramsay gave them 40 minutes to cook five entrees from the menu (spaghetti and meatballs, veal scallopini piccata, crispy fried chicken, shrimp and grits, and cioppino). Because the blue team had an extra member, Gizzy volunteered to sit out. Every 8 minutes, Ramsay asked both teams to kick out one member at a time, until only Motto and Ariel were left in their respective kitchens; with 90 seconds to go, Ramsay allowed the chefs back into their kitchens for plating. The women won the challenge 4-3 as Trev forgot to plate the fish for the men's cioppino, reminiscent of a similar error he made during season 8's Taste It Now Make It challenge.

Reward/punishment: The women went go-karting, while the men were forced to take in delivery of corn and peas, and shuck them for service. During the punishment, Trev suffered a mild allergic reaction and Sous Chef Christina sent him to see a medic, but Scotley was unsympathetic due to Trev already costing them the challenge, even mocking the former by calling him a "baby girl".

Cook For Your Life Challenge: For the second season in a row, the Cook For Your Life Challenge took the place of a normal dinner service. This time, Ramsay put on the block the first three chefs from each team to leave the kitchen during the previous challenge. These were Bret, Jose, and Scotley from the red team, and Gizzy, Roe, and Heather from the blue team. The six chefs were then tasked with creating their own entree dishes in 45 minutes.

Elimination: Both Bret's Frutti di mare pasta and Heather's coconut curry poached lobster tail beat out Roe's grilled swordfish, but Roe was able to beat out Gizzy's rustic grilled bass. Jose's pan-seared salmon and chorizo hash also beat out Gizzy's dish, leaving her to go against Scotley, who had taken over her position in Atlanta. In the end, Scotley's ahi tuna with red lentils won out, and Gizzy was eliminated for leaving the scales on the bass. Before leaving, Ramsay told Gizzy that while she came into the competition strong, she soon lost her confidence later on (as evidenced by sitting out of the challenge and the lack of creativity and conviction in her dish), but urged her not to give up on her dreams.

Trev expressed disappointment that Scotley was not eliminated, while Mia takes exception to Bret cussing and calling her "sweetheart".

Team Challenge: After showing pictures of the chefs (along with the staff and Ramsay himself) in their teenage years, Ramsay announced for that night's service, he was hosting his youngest daughter Tilly's Sweet 16th birthday party. Both teams had to create a tasting menu for the party, consisting of two appetizers, two meat entrees, and one vegetarian entree, with one point being awarded for each dish that Tilly decides to put on the menu. During the challenge, Tilly asked two things of her dad: personal-sized four-layer cakes for all the guests, and to control his swearing during dinner service. Motto's confetti tuna and Kanae's Asian kebabs scored over Roe's and Scotley's scallops (due to being served with ricotta cheese and being raw, respectively) on appetizers. Tilly also picks Mia's vegetarian entree over Trev's because she loves mushrooms, as well as Jose's fish and chips and Heather's filet mignon. The women won the challenge 4-2 after Tilly picks Ariel's grilled chicken over Bret's baked ziti, which she found to be too rich.

Reward/punishment: The women spent the day at a Malibu mansion with a drive-by from an artisan ice cream truck, much to Mia's delight, while the men had to make folding paper decorations along with the four-layered cakes Tilly asked for, and also set up a mobile photo booth for the party guests. During the punishment, Bret suffered from a rapid heartbeat, requiring medical attention. However, he refused to go to the hospital for further testing after his symptoms subsided, not wanting a repeat of season 14 when health issues sent him home early.

Dinner service: Thomas Barbusca was at tonight's service. The men had their second near-perfect service in a row, thanks to strong performances from Scotley on appetizers, Jose on meat, and Motto on fish. Bret burned sweet potato fries and Trev put too much garlic in spinach after ignoring Scotley's warning, but both of them managed to quickly recover. The women got through appetizers fine despite Kanae requiring Heather's help after poorly slicing ahi tuna, but fell apart on entrees. Roe undercooked steak twice, earning the entire team a trip to the pantry. Mia's first attempt at fish didn't have enough batter, and the refire was raw. When Ariel sent up a raw halibut for Tilly's table, Ramsay lost his temper and kicked the women out of the kitchen as the three male rookies (Scotley, Motto, and Jose) completed their remaining tables for them.

Elimination: The women nominated Roe and Mia for elimination, despite Roe pushing for Ariel to go up for getting the team kicked out. During her plea, Mia falsely accused Kanae of not properly setting up the fish station. Nevertheless, Ramsay eliminated Roe for her poor performance on meat, ironically her strongest station when she was in Season 13.

Mia and Kanae get into an argument in the dorms over the former throwing the latter under the bus during the previous elimination, as Ariel and Heather break it up.

Team Challenge: The chefs were introduced to the Chinese food challenge with a dragon dance performance outside. Ramsay asked selected contestants to pick an opponent to cook against, and the opponent would pick the protein (spot prawns, black cod, pork tenderloin, duck breast, chicken breast) to cook with. Scotley was the extra member on the red team not picked, so he was assigned chicken breast, and the blue team had to select one of their members to cook the extra chicken dish, which turned out to be Kanae. Ramsay brought in Top Chef contestant Shirley Chung as a guest judge. Mia scored over Trev on pork tenderloin, Bret scored over Heather on cod, Scotley scored over Kanae on chicken breast, and Ariel scored over Motto on duck breast to tie the score at 2. Kanae then beat Jose on prawns to give the women their third consecutive challenge win.

Reward/punishment: The women flew to Las Vegas with Christina for the night, staying in a private villa in the Nobu hotel, while the men had to make fortune cookies from scratch. Scotley did very little during the punishment, even taking a break to make burgers for a snack and then boiling some of the eggs earmarked for the fortune cookies. This angered Trev, who voiced his concerns to Heather in the dorms, and annoyed his teammates during prep the next day by constantly ordering them around.

Dinner service: Guests in attendance included Olympic medalists David Plummer and Allison Schmitt, and Los Angeles Kings players Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli, as well as a ten-top occupied by Beacher’s Madhouse performers that both teams had to serve at the same time. Other than Kanae dropping two scallops on the first table of appetizers and not understanding Ramsay's command “Out in one”, the women had a near flawless performance thanks to Ariel on meat, serving their half of the ten-top well before the men did. The men, on the other hand, struggled all night due to their lack of cohesion, especially Trev and Jose on fish struggling to push out scallops and salmon to the point of Ramsay questioning who was running the section. Scotley tore the pastry on a Wellington while slicing it, so Ramsay asked Bret to show Scotley how to slice them. His next attempt was raw, so Ramsay compared them to Ariel’s Wellingtons to make a further example. After the women finished service, Ramsay brought them into the red kitchen to help the men, who were kicked out and asked for two nominees after Jose served raw salmon. The women served nearly two-thirds of the red tables in addition to all their own.

Elimination: Bret announced that the nominees as Scotley and Trev, but Jose also received serious consideration. Ramsay was frustrated but called down the three nominees. Ramsay was disappointed in Trev and Scotley for arguing over each other's behavior during punishment, but sent Trev back in line after hearing his plea. Despite Jose being the worst performer of the night, Scotley was eliminated for his declining performances after a strong start, as well as for not backing up his big talk.

Team Challenge: Ramsay revealed that the eighteenth annual blind taste test would be their next challenge, and for that year, the chefs tasted gelatos infused with different flavors. As one chef from each team tasted, their teammates were seated on a stool and would have spaghetti, marinara sauce, and Parmesan cheese dumped on them respectively should the taster get multiple incorrect answers. Trev failed to score any points, resulting in Jose getting all three ingredients dumped on him, while Heather got two, with Kanae getting blasted with only spaghetti. Motto scored an impressive three, but Mia continued her hot streak in challenges with a perfect four, becoming the fourth contestant in Hell's Kitchen to achieve such a feat. Ariel scored three over Bret's two, resulting in Motto getting blasted with spaghetti. In the final round, while both Jose and Kanae identified coffee, the women won the challenge 10-6, as there weren't enough ingredients left for the men to catch up.

Reward/punishment: The women went to Southern California’s Premiere Korean Spa for a day of pampering while the men had to clean up the mess in the dining room, polish all the silverware for the private dinner service, and make gelato by hand. Trev suffered a crisis of confidence as a result of costing his team the challenge, believing he couldn't win without showing he had a decent palate but was calmed down and encouraged by Heather in the dorms. During the punishment, he suffered a lot of merciless teasing and mocking from his teammates after breaking the ice cream churner, but knew he had to bounce back.

Dinner service: For one night only, Hell's Kitchen was closed for a charity night service. The men cooked for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, whose table featured Sabrina Soto, Kevin Zegers and Parker Young. The women cooked for Waterkeeper Alliance, whose table featured Camryn Manheim, her son Milo, Dylan Bruno, and Chad Lowe. The menu that night featured a five-course Italian meal, with each chef in charge of a course. On the scallops course, Mia led effectively although sometimes too quietly for Ramsay's liking. Motto was derailed by Trev serving scallops seared on only one side, and the entire team plating slowly. After the course was served, Ramsay discovered an entire tray of wasted scallops, prompting Trev and Bret to argue over who was responsible. Both Ariel and Bret led the branzino course with only minor problems; Kanae took the foil off the tray of fish, nearly letting it get cold, while some of Jose's salad was bruised. Trev led the carbonara course vocally and effectively, with Ramsay calling it the best-executed course so far, but Kanae was slowed by Heather putting unequal amounts of pasta on each plate, forcing the team to restart plating. On the veal saltimbocca course, while Heather had no problems, Jose struggled to give her and Ramsay accurate timings and failed to check the veal chops, which led to seven of them, including Soto's, being returned for being raw. Infuriated and embarrassed, Ramsay cooked the refires himself as both teams got desserts out. The men were named clear losers and asked for two nominees.

Elimination: Trev announced that the nominees were Jose and, much to Ramsay's shock, himself. Trev's teammates all wanted him gone, blaming him for the burnt scallops and raw veal, but Ramsay ultimately eliminated Jose, much to everyone else's chagrin, for his poor leadership on his course and allowing the raw veal to leave the kitchen without checking them first, but gave him encouragement.

Team Challenge: The challenge was a three-on-three showdown to see which team could make the better lineup of desserts to impress Ramsay and restaurateur Valerie Gordon, each of whom would give each dessert between one and five points. The blue team had an extra dish, and Heather's unappetizing-looking bread pudding was left out of the lineup. Motto's s'mores-inspired bread pudding, gave the men an early seven-three lead, but Bret's arancini balls severely undercooked and Trev's chocolate avocado puffs tasted awful, each scoring the minimum two. Despite Kanae and Mia's desserts also receiving poor reviews, Ariel's Thai lime and beet tart scored seven to lift the women to a 14-11 victory.

Reward/punishment: The women had lunch at the Joey Woodland Hills restaurant with sous chef Jocky, and then went on a $2,000 shopping spree ($500 per team member) to a high-end culinary store called Sur La Table. Heather was in a poor mood almost the entire time due to her dessert being left out of the challenge, even though her team still managed to win without it. Meanwhile, the men had to break down 600 pounds of ice by hand into ice cubes for cocktails. Bret and Motto are so annoyed by Trev's lack of cooperation in carrying out the task (even though Trev had insisted on doing his part of the task on his own) and mocked him both to his face and behind his back. Before service, Trev expressed his concerns to sous chef Christina about earning Bret and Motto's respect and asked if it would be possible to discuss opportunities for advancement after the competition.

Dinner service: The VIP guests were Randall Park at the blue chef's table and Malcolm Smith at the red. Both teams got through appetizers with no trouble, except for Mia being unable to taste the risotto due to a shellfish allergy; Ramsay suggested that Mia cook the carbonara and Ariel take the risotto instead. On entrées, Heather overcooked a New York strip steak, and Ramsay stepped in after Kanae served raw salmon for the chef's table, but the women finished with no other issues. The men, on the other hand, were plagued by miscommunication and lack of cohesion all night. Trev to serve a raw Wellington after Bret and Motto ignored his requests for time. On the next ticket, Trev forgot to put the herb crust on a lamb chop (which he claimed to never have cooked before), but luckily, Motto was able to inform Trev before Ramsay saw it. However, Trev overcooked one of the two lamb chops, while Bret cooked halibut in a dirty pan. After Bret served raw salmon to Smith's five-month-pregnant wife and Trev's Wellington for Smith fell apart, an irate and embarrassed Ramsay kicked the men out of service.

Elimination: Ramsay asked the men for one nominee, but Bret and Trev both blamed each other for the service's failure, so Ramsay called both of them down. Much to the relief of Bret and Motto, Trev was eliminated for his third consecutive nomination, worsening performances, refusal to take responsibility for his mistakes, and losing the respect of his teammates. Nonetheless, Ramsay praised him for his passion and dedication and wished him luck in his culinary career. After Trev left, Ramsay warned Bret to step up his game and asked the women for a volunteer to move to the red team the next day in order to even the numbers.

Team Change: Ariel initially wanted to transfer, but ultimately let Mia do it to give the latter an opportunity to step up as a leader. This makes Mia the third person in the show's history to switch back to their original team, after Autumn from season seven and Trev from season eight. Immediately afterward, however, Ramsay announced that the chefs would be competing in a series of challenges to win a black jacket, and the lone chef who did not win one would be sent home.

Black Jacket Challenge 1: For their first challenge, each chef had to randomly select their ingredients: protein, two vegetables, starch, and a wildcard. They then had 45 minutes to cook their dishes using the ingredients. Motto, Bret, Ariel, and Mia all got good reviews, while Kanae's dish was praised for its flavors but criticized for raw green beans. Heather's dish received the worst review, as she didn't let her duck (which she had never cooked before) rest long enough, and her potato puree was gummy. Ariel's pan-seared scallops and Mia's filet mignon were deemed the best and won the first two black jackets and passes to the Black Jacket Lounge.

Black Jacket Challenge 2: For their second challenge, the remaining four chefs had to spin a wheel to determine the four ingredients they would all need to use, which were quail, eggplant, baby leeks, and cauliflower. Heather spun the quail, which distressed her due to her inexperience with it. They then had to cook their own dish using those ingredients in 45 minutes. Bret and Motto had the two best dishes, as Heather left a lemon wedge in her quail and also removed the wings and legs, while Kanae's cauliflower puree was of poor consistency. Bret and Motto won their black jackets and joined Ariel and Mia at the Black Jacket Lounge.

Black Jacket Challenge 3: For the final challenge, Heather and Kanae had 45 minutes to make their own surf and turf dish. Heather burned her hand late in the challenge but managed to finish, presenting a filet mignon and lobster tail with broccoli rabe and mashed potatoes, while Kanae made an Asian-inspired pork chop and prawns with coconut cilantro rice.

As the final five celebrated in the Black Jacket Lounge, Bret revealed that having earned a black jacket meant a lot to him as he fell victim to his circumstances when he was younger, nearly facing a 30-year prison sentence.

Individual Challenge: The next day, the final five received breakfast from the Sous Chefs in the form of Ramsay's eggs Benedict, which Ariel and Mia took extra time to analyze. Their premonitions proved correct when Ramsay announced the Taste It Now Make It Challenge, and tasked the five to recreate the dish. Both Bret and Heather were disqualified for serving broken Hollandaise sauce. Motto, who elected not to taste Ramsay's sample plate, was also eliminated for being the only person to identify prosciutto but not Canadian bacon. Ariel and Mia each got one component of the hollandaise sauce correct (paprika and shallots, respectively), so Ramsay declared both of them winners.

Reward/Punishment: Ariel and Mia went with the sous chefs on an indoor skydiving experience, along with having lunch at Sweet Butter, while the remaining chefs had to clean the dorms.

Service: Kelli Berglund and Drew Van Acker were in attendance in addition to Los Angeles Rams players Rodger Saffold, Tyler Higbee, and Jared Goff. The chefs struggled with communication and timing all night. Ariel put in a strong performance on appetizers, but Heather fell behind on the fish station, requiring Motto's help, and gave conflicting times on scallops, resulting in Motto bringing them up with Ariel two minutes away on risotto. After that, the appetizers ran smoothly. On entrees, Bret served a raw New York strip and Ramsay scolded him for not communicating with Motto. Motto managed to get the refire accepted, but the order had to wait on Bret's sauce. Mia froze on garnish and did not respond when Bret asked for a time, while Heather stalled the kitchen on the Rams' table when the salmon skin broke off, requiring Motto to help her out again. After a communication breakdown caused Motto to get confused over how many fish were on order, Ramsay got the chefs back on track, and dinner service continued with no other problems. Despite completing service, Ramsay was not happy as they did not maintain their strong start and tasked the final five to nominate two people for elimination.

Elimination: Heather and Mia were nominated, even though the latter argued for Bret, for having two steaks sent back. Ramsay polled the other three on who should leave; Motto and Ariel voted for Heather while Bret voted for Mia. Ramsay agreed and eliminated Heather for her worsening performances, making excuses for her mistakes, and not showing the same strength she had back in Season 16. Heather was the last of the former runner-ups to be eliminated from the competition.

Shortly before midnight, Ramsay called everyone down and introduced them to Dan Drake, founder of pancake catering company Dancakes, who used pancakes to draw portraits of the four contestants as well as Ramsay. Ramsay announced the challenge, which was to create an innovative dish to be prepared and served tableside for many esteemed chefs visiting Hell's Kitchen.

Individual Challenge: Guest judges included Ted Hopson, Geoff Baumberger, Michael Fiorelli, and Joel Miller. Ariel made duck meatball (albondigas) dumplings in pozole soup, while the others made shrimp dishes inspired by their heritages (Italian, Puerto Rican, Cajun). Motto nearly dropped his pan for one table while telling them a story about a cookoff he was in. For another table, he worked so slowly that he was nearly unable to serve them in time. Mia forgot the name of the shrimp that she was using in her dish when prompted but charmed her guests with her Puerto Rican demeanor. Bret unsettled several guests by describing his many seafood-based tattoos. Ariel's desire to improve upon her performance in season six elicited sympathy from her guests. In the end, Ariel won the challenge and chose Bret to join her on the reward, out of veteran solidarity and sympathy for the many punishments he faced.

Reward/punishment: While Ariel and Bret enjoyed a day at the beach, horseback riding, and a personal massage session in Malibu, Mia and Motto had to wash, peel, zest, and juice citrus fruits at the bar to make sangrias for the upcoming dinner service.

Dinner service: Attending service were Amber Rose, Neen Williams, and Curt Menefee. The final four took turns running the pass and had to be on the lookout for sabotage from Ramsay and the sous chefs. Bret caught Christina making a carbonara with spaghetti instead of tagliatelle and rejected Ariel's undercooked scallops, but ironically missed orzo pasta being used in place of rice for his own risotto. Ariel noticed Jocky giving her tuna tartare instead of beef tartare and sent back Bret's scrambled carbonara, but couldn't taste the difference between fennel and onion puree. Mia spotted monkfish wellington instead of lobster but missed a ribeye in place of a New York strip and Bret's garlicky risotto. However, she recovered to reject Ariel's bland mashed potatoes as well as another one of Bret's cracked carbonaras. Motto noticed that Marino had given him a ticket with salmon tartare, which wasn't on the menu, and attempted to send back a pork chop for being undercooked, only for Ramsay to inform him that it was actually a veal chop. Ramsay was relatively pleased by the service and asked the four chefs to nominate someone whom they felt did not deserve to advance to the final.

Motto's exit: Bret and Mia nominated each other, but Motto shocked everyone by nominating himself, as he felt his passion for food resided in the landscape of his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and he wanted to take the knowledge and skills gained throughout his time in the competition back with him. After he announced this decision to Ramsay at the elimination ceremony, Ramsay was disappointed, but he nonetheless praised Motto's tenacity and sincerity, asked Motto to call him to discuss opportunities when he was finished, and allowed him to keep his jacket. Motto did not get a jacket hanging and picture burning scene, and Ramsay did not comment on his departure.

Continuing from the previous episode, Ramsay named Mia as the second finalist and eliminated Bret, but praised him for his unmatched passion, reminded him how proud of him his parents would have been, and allowed him to keep his jacket. He then assigned Ariel to Sous Chef Christina and Mia to Sous Chef Jocky, who would help them prepare a tasting menu consisting of one cold and hot appetizer and one seafood, chicken, and beef entree.

The next morning, Ramsay brought in Ariel's and Mia's parents. He took the final two to brunch, where he announced that Six Flags Magic Mountain had been closed for the day, and they would be able to ride the rides with their parents all afternoon including Viper. That evening, Ramsay and his daughter Holly joined them and told them there was one more roller coaster to go on, which he incorrectly stated had yet been opened to the public: Full Throttle.^{[lower-alpha 1]} He led Mia and Ariel to it, where they were greeted by a live audience.

Challenge: Ariel and Mia were given 60 minutes to create their menus with the help of their sous chefs. Ramsay brought in various guest judges to rate the dishes on a scale from 1 to 10. Mia beat Ariel 9-8 on the cold appetizer and chicken entree, but Ariel did the same on the hot appetizer and seafood entree, which meant that chef Michael Cimarusti would break the tie on the steak entree. He gave Ariel 8 and Mia 9, which gave Mia the win and the first choice of the returning chefs from the season to form a brigade for the final dinner service. Mia picked Roe, Trev, Jose, and Heather. Ariel picked Kanae, Bret, Motto, and was left with Scotley. The chefs and the sous chefs then all got on Full Throttle for one last ride before heading back to Hell's Kitchen.

In the season recap at the beginning of the episode, Chris, Kanae, and Motto each had their pictures burned.

Pre-service: Ariel had no trouble getting her team to buy into her menu, but Roe, Heather, and Trev had trouble pronouncing several of Mia's dishes' names and got annoyed with her micromanagement during prep. Heather in particular was not pleased to have to work for Mia. Ramsay liked Mia's menu but asked Ariel to re-season every one of her dishes.

Dinner service: The finalists' families plus Matt Barkley, Jessie Graff, and Yael Grobglas were in attendance for the last dinner service while Marcia Clark and JB Smoove sat at Ariel's and Mia's chef's tables respectively. Both Mia and Ariel got through the appetizers smoothly. Mia had to remind Trev to salt his risotto, and Kanae needed Motto's help after burning dumplings, but they all recovered. On entrees, Roe undercooked pork and overcooked sea bass, the latter of which forced Mia to refire an entire table. In the red kitchen, Scotley nearly burned his rib cap until Ariel reminded him to pay attention to his station. Bret bounced back after sending a cold steak, but when he served raw chicken twice for the Six Flags executive staff table, Ramsay yelled at him to wake up. Despite the minor hiccups, both teams finished service on a strong note.

Winner: As per Hell's Kitchen tradition, Mia and Ariel stood in front of two doors. Ariel's door opened, making her the eighteenth winner of Hell's Kitchen and the second winner in a row who was appearing on the show a second time. Mia took her defeat graciously. Having grown close to Mia through their positive competitive rivalry during the competition, Ariel promised to keep a job opening for Mia in Las Vegas if the opportunity arose, and hung her picture in the Hall of Fame.