Sixteen chefs arrived at Hell's Kitchen and met James, the new maître d'. They were then taken to the LA Market restaurant in JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live to meet Chef Ramsay and were told that the competition winner would become the head chef there before Ramsay had them return to the kitchen to make their signature dishes.

Team challenge/signature dish: The men competed against the women being judged by Ramsay. Emily's duck breast, Russell's grilled calamari steak, Vinny's boiled and poached halibut, Jillian's herb-and-vegetable-stuffed chicken, Boris' dish, and Sabrina's baqueta fish and blood orange fennel salad all impressed Ramsay. Raj's seafood and vegetable pancake received positive feedback for taste, but Ramsay refused to score it a point as it looked nothing like an actual pancake and also because it was dripping oil when he tilted the plate. The remaining dishes were poorly received; Nona's honey fried chicken was spat out as it was too sweet and her asparagus was undercooked, and Antonia's Mardi Gras gumbo made Ramsay physically ill and vomit twice, and Ramsay had the rest of the chefs taste it. Ramsay called Curtis' lemon pepper chicken "shit", Rob's pistachio-crusted rack of lamb was undercooked and poorly cut, Gail's potatoes were burnt, Trev's dish was deemed an "embarrassment", Lisa's meat was dry, Ramsay asked Melissa if she was "off her tiny mind" when she presented her steak, and finally Louis' lobster lost out as Ramsay couldn't get the meat out of the shell. The score was tied 3–3, but as a tie-breaker Ramsay deemed Antonia's dish the worst, giving the men the win.

Reward/punishment: The men received massages on the patio while the women cleaned the kitchen.

Antonia's exit: Shortly before dinner service, Antonia suffered a migraine and collapsed. She was rushed to the hospital and would not return to the competition. Neither Antonia nor Ramsay commented on her departure. Her jacket and burnt photo could be seen twice when Ramsay hung up Rob's and Vinny's jackets. It is believed that her exit was staged in an attempt to leave the competition to avoid further embarrassment following her disgusting signature dish.

Service: Michelle Branch was a guest for opening night in addition to Donald Schultz. Raj and Emily were assigned as servers, while Boris and Melissa were assigned a special pizza menu. In the women's kitchen, Melissa served raw pizza, which Boris mimicked Ramsay criticizing her for. Ramsay overheard Boris, pulled him into the women's kitchen to touch the pizza, and sternly threatened him with automatic elimination should he do it again. Lisa worked slowly on fish and undercooked halibut and Sabrina served beef Wellingtons too early. In the men's kitchen, Raj struggled as a server and was eventually demoted to helping Boris with pizzas (although they had trouble working together as Raj refused to listen to Boris's instructions), and Trev overdressed salads twice. After two hours with no entrees and only a few appetizers, Ramsay shut down both kitchens and named no winner, calling it the worst opening service in the series history to date. This is the first time in Hell's Kitchen history that both teams lost the first service.

Elimination: Even though Antonia was removed from the game, Ramsay still said one chef will be eliminated. The men nominated Raj and Trev while the women nominated Lisa and Sabrina. Although he considered Sabrina for her selfish attitude, Ramsay sent her back in line followed by Trev and then he eliminated Lisa for her abysmal performance on fish and feeling she was in over her head.

Lisa's comment: "I honestly never would've thought I would've been the first person to go home. This competition was everything to me. Chef Ramsay should've sent Sabrina home. There's no doubt in my mind if I ever met her in a cook-off, I'd kick her ass."

Ramsay's comment: "The only thing positive I can say about Lisa's performance tonight, she didn't kill anyone."

Team challenge: The chefs worked in pairs to make five salmon cucumber avocado rolls and four pieces of tuna nigiri according to Ramsay and master sushi chef Masaharu Morimoto's specifications. Afterwards, the men chose Trev and Curtis to sit out to even the numbers. For the women, Nona and Jillian scored 8 while Emily and Sabrina scored 7, but Gail and Melissa scored nothing, giving them a grand total of 15. The pairs of Louis-Rob and Russell-Raj scored 4 each due to Rob and Raj forgetting to put wasabi on their tuna nigiri pieces, leaving Boris and Vinny to need 7 points to tie. They scored 8 to give the men a 16-15 win.

Reward/punishment: The men joined Ramsay on a trip to Cellar360 in San Francisco for wine tasting followed by dinner at the Waterbar Restaurant. The women prepped sushi and ate various types of squid for dinner, which caused Sabrina to vomit repeatedly.

In prep, the men became even more concerned about Raj after he couldn't properly prepare the supply of parsley for the night, forcing Vinny and Curtis to jump in and help him.

Service: Since both teams made James' first night as maitre d' hard, Ramsay appointed Vinny and Jillian as assistant maître d’s. Nona had a strong performance on fish, but Emily struggled on meat and Melissa got orders mixed up on garnish, forcing Ramsay to switch her with Jillian. On the men's side, Vinny was slow taking orders and was caught by James telling a table not to order sides with their meals, as he had no faith that Raj was going to get the sides ready in time. When confronted by Ramsay, Vinny explained that he told the table that while the sides were delicious, it would take a long time for them to be served. Ramsay then asked Raj if he told Vinny not to take side orders, which Raj denied. Vinny was forced to admit his doubts for Raj's performance, and a furious Ramsay kicked Vinny out of service as a result. Things only got worse for the men, as Boris took over scallops from Trev and served them raw. Curtis sent up poorly sliced sushi rolls with no wasabi and Raj stacked the garnish station, which resulted in both of them being kicked out. After Louis served two Caesar salads with unequal amounts of walnuts, a fed up Ramsay led the rest of the men to the back hallway and ejected them from service. In the dorms, the men (particularly Louis) turned against Raj for calling them "kids". In the end, the women finished service and were named clear winners, while the men had to nominate two people for elimination.

Elimination: For first time in elimination, a winning team is sitting down on two rows of chairs, instead of a table, which continues throughout the series. The men initially decided on Raj and Curtis as the nominees, but Curtis managed to convince the rest of the team (and without Boris' knowledge) to nominate Boris instead of himself. Therefore, the men chose Raj and Boris as their nominees, however, Ramsay also brought Vinny up at elimination for attempting to dictate what went out of the kitchen. Fortunately for the trio, Ramsay spared them and sent Curtis home for his poor performance on sushi, which was the main reason for the men's collapse.

Curtis's comment: "Words can't even describe how I feel right now. I mean, this experience meant so much to me, so much to my family. I'm sorry, Daddy gave it his best, but I swear to God, I'll make it up to you."

Ramsay's comment: "Curtis might have been a good ol' boy, but unfortunately, he wasn't good at cooking."

The chefs were woken up by paramedics, who gave them health exams.

Team challenge: The teams cooked breakfast for fifty paramedics; the team that finished first would win. The women had a nearly flawless performance with the only problem being Emily's burnt bacon. For the men, Rob forgot to put pineapple in fruit salads and Boris burnt an omelette. Due to Raj's serving unseasoned scrambled eggs and leaving and putting his head in the freezer to calm down after getting berated by Ramsay for talking back, the women finished before the men even served one table, so Ramsay had them help the men.

Reward/punishment: The women took trapeze lessons at Pacific Park and went to Santa Monica's Viceroy Hotel for lunch with Ramsay. The men had to clean the kitchens and polish stemware. During the punishment, Trev, who initially tried to befriend and help Raj, noticed water marks on Raj's glasses and a loaf of bread only covered halfway in ceramic wrap. For this, he angrily called out Raj for his constant poor performances and for not contributing to helping the men. An argument ensued between the two, and Raj got in Trev's face and yelled at him to shut up after what Raj perceived to be an insult on his weight. Before things escalated, Boris and Russell pulled Raj into the back hallway and calmed him down. During prep the next day, the women were concerned about Sabrina's decision not to make a prep list.

Service: Trev and Sabrina served cocktails in the dining room. In the women's kitchen, Emily's appetizers were returned for being too salty, but Jillian managed to keep appetizers leaving at a good pace. Nona performed well on garnish but was frustrated with Emily offering to help but not cooking the garnish Nona needed. Additionally, Melissa overcooked Dover sole and Gail dozed off while one of her meat pans caught on fire. In the men's kitchen, although Vinny did well on appetizers, Raj once again struggled on fish; he first fired scallops too early and served a salmon in a disgusting stock that wasn't needed. While working on the refire, Raj irritated Ramsay by giving inconsistent times before serving it raw, and did not understand when Ramsay proceeded to smash it with his bare hand. Ramsay ordered Vinny to help Raj and the men eventually managed to serve their first table. Ramsay forced the men to start the next ticket over when Boris undercooked Wellingtons. Raj took this opportunity to eat the discarded fish, further frustrating Ramsay and his teammates. Despite serving an acceptable halibut, Raj also cooked three Dover sole that weren't on the ticket. To make matters worse, they had no more Dover sole left despite there being three on order on the next ticket. Horrified, Ramsay demanded Raj go out to the dining room to apologize to the customers. Raj protested due to a dirty apron, but Ramsay and Scott aggressively forced him to do so. Nonetheless, the men were declared the winners of service as they scored a 54% approval rating from the diners, compared to the women's 50%.

Elimination: Emily and Sabrina were nominated, the latter based on pre-service prep work; Ramsay was confused by Sabrina's nomination, but accepted the nominees. To the men's relief, Ramsay ultimately eliminated Raj for his third unacceptable performance in a row (as well as his general lack of kitchen etiquette and knowledge), openly telling him that he "couldn't go an inch further" with him. This made him the third contestant to be eliminated despite being on the winning team, following Carol (Season 5) and Salvatore (Season 7).

Raj's comment: "I can't believe it, it's just a shock. I didn't get along with anybody, I didn't get along with Chef Ramsay, I didn't get along with Scott, I didn't like the menu. But it was a great experience. I had a great time, and I'm really glad I did it."

Ramsay's comment: "When the going gets tough in the kitchen, a chef puts his head down and cooks. All Raj wanted to do was put his head in the freezer, and that's why his stay in Hell's Kitchen was a short one."

Team challenge: First, Ramsay asked everyone to refrain from smoking for 48 hours due to its negative effects on the palate. He then tasked each chef to create ravioli with their own pasta, filling and sauce. They then had to present the dishes from best to worst for judging by Ramsay. Prior to judging, Gail decided to change her rank as the worst as she didn't have confidence in her dish. Melissa scored over Vinny, as his ravioli had burst. Both Jillian and Rob scored, Russell scored over Nona, Emily scored over Louis (the latter's ravioli being the only one Ramsay didn't like as he spat it out), and Boris scored over Sabrina, as her ravioli had burst, leaving the teams tied 3-3 with one round to go. Trev scored the winning point for the men after Gail's dish was deemed to be underseasoned.

Reward/punishment: The men took a helicopter trip to Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, where they played a game of golf, and Vinny's ravioli was placed on the menu for Italian night. The women cleaned the kitchen and milked cows. During the reward, Trev expressed his frustration to his team about them deeming his ravioli the worst during the challenge, as they didn't even taste it, and vented to Gail after returning to the dorm. Prior to dinner service, the women continue to grow frustrated with Sabrina for being stubborn and unfocused during prep.

Service: Jack Osbourne was in attendance for this service. The men did well on appetizers thanks to Russell, but Louis served raw salmon and burned a pork while forgetting the other one on order. This was only made worse as a result of the table being meant for someone who was planning to propose to his girlfriend that night. After that, Louis handled pork with his hands to show Sous Chef Scott that it was undercooked, and the latter berated him for not putting it on a tray and called him a slob. Rob sent out burnt pizza and Ramsay forced him to eat it, and Boris was sent to the back of the house for washing dishes instead of cooking. After Louis served raw chicken parmesan, he and Boris, who was demoted to dishwashing duty, got kicked out. Ramsay then placed Vinny on the meat station, who managed to successfully get the kitchen back on track. In the women's kitchen, Melissa forgot a ravioli before serving it cold, and later received a lecture for miscalculating how many ravioli were needed for three orders. Sabrina was confused on timing for meat, requiring Melissa's help, and Gail served crunchy pasta as a result of Sabrina bringing her meat to the pass early. However, the women managed to complete service and were then ordered to help the men, but struggled to do so as a result of all the previous mistakes in the men's kitchen. Ramsay kicked everyone out after it was revealed no one knew whether the garnish for the pork was at the pass or not. The proposal took place as planned, but Ramsay named both teams losers.

Elimination: The men nominated Boris and Louis, while the women initially agreed on Melissa and Gail as their nominees, but Nona convinced them to nominate Sabrina instead of Gail which led to a heated argument between Sabrina and Melissa in the dorms. Ramsay eliminated Louis for being the worst performer of the night.

Louis's comment: "It's gonna be tough going back to camp and having to face my kids. But, honestly, I can say that I represented myself well. Hell's Kitchen definitely kicked my butt, but that's good for people. And that's the only way we grow."

Ramsay's comment: "Louis the camp cook dreamed of fine dining, but the only thing I would trust him with is toasting a marshmallow. Kumbaya, my friend."

Team challenge: The chefs prepared a tasting menu of an appetizer and two main dishes for the Beverly Hills High School prom committee. The women's dungeness crab cake scored over the men's sesame encrusted tuna on appetizers. The women also won the first entrée round with their ribeye with tuna ceviche, despite the men and Ramsay's confusion, as the men severely overcooked their halibut dish, automatically giving them the challenge win. They also scored with their last entrée, leading to the first ever challenge shutout in Hell's Kitchen history.

Reward/punishment: The women visited Knott's Berry Farm. The men cleaned the kitchens and helped the prom committee put up decorations. Angered by the punishment and having to be told what to do by high school students, Russell rudely addressed the prom committee when one of them casually talked about the men's teamwork, until being reprimanded by James.

Service: The dinner service was for the prom. Vinny and Nona assisted Ramsay plating food. The men got a fish entrée added to the menu, since all of the women's dishes were meat-based. In the women's kitchen, Sabrina's strong performance on appetizers got the kitchen off to a good start, but was hampered by Emily's soggy crab cakes. The problems continued as Melissa managed to overcook all 23 filets that were on order before the women had even finished serving appetizers, and Emily held up the kitchen by serving raw halibut while Gail undercooked garnish. Ramsay also scolded Melissa for slicing undercooked meat, however, Nona interrupted him, causing him to scold her instead. The men had a rocky start as Boris cooked crab cakes ahead of time and then serving some of them undercooked. However, the team rallied behind him to send out appetizers. Thanks to Russell's leadership on meat, they had an almost flawless performance on entrées, with the only problem being Boris holding up a ticket due to not having the halibut quite ready in time. Both teams finished service; Ramsay named the men winners for their strong finish and praised Russell; Sabrina was named "Best of the Worst" on the women's team, although Nona openly disagreed and was reprimanded by Ramsay.

Elimination: Sabrina nominated Melissa and Emily. After asking Nona for her opinion, Ramsay eliminated Emily for being consistently the weakest performer on the women's team, and warned Melissa that she was now on her absolute last chance, having only survived because her teammates had strongly defended her in the past.

Emily's comment: "I'm not ready to go home, but if Chef Ramsay can't see my skill, it's his loss. He can go yell at somebody else tomorrow."

Ramsay's comment: "Like everyone in Hell's Kitchen, Emily started at the bottom. Unfortunately, she stayed there."

Team change: Prior to the team challenge, Ramsay moved Melissa to the men's team as one more chance to improve, while sending Trev to the women's team as a way for him to step up as a leader.

Team challenge: The chefs prepared entree salads. Sarah Tenaglia, the senior food editor of Bon Appétit magazine, was the guest judge. Gail and Trev scored for the red team, while Russell and Rob scored for the blue team, ending in a 2-2 tie. For the tie breaker, Sarah decided on the best salad of the day; Rob's salad got the edge over Gail's, giving the blue team the win.

Reward/punishment: The blue team had lunch at the Getty Villa in Malibu, and Rob's salad was added to dinner service and featured in Bon Appétit magazine. The red team had to clean and prep both kitchens for the next service and eat a flower salad with bugs for lunch.

Service: In attendance was Carly Smithson. Each team received a group of VIP guests at their respective chef's tables. The red team had Mo Gaffney and Nancy Grahn in addition Matt Walsh and his mom Audrey who were not mentioned in this service while Kelli Williams was sitting in the blue team's kitchen. Jillian and Rob were assigned to a tableside station to make and plate Rob's salad, and take orders and serve the chef's tables that night. In the red kitchen Gail and Trev put in strong performances on appetizers and meat respectively, but Nona continuously undercooked the scallops for Audrey Walsh's salad, forcing Ramsay to ask Trev to cook them for her. Sabrina struggled on garnish throughout the night, including thinking that meat station was responsible for cooking gnocchi, and argued with Trev. In the blue kitchen, Russell had a strong performance on appetizers but was unable to serve some of them due to Boris overcooking the shrimp, while Melissa continuously undercooked and overcooked the scallops for Rob's salad and eventually ran out, forcing Ramsay to replace it with a rock shrimp salad. Boris served chalky mashed potatoes and got distracted, resulting in paper on his station catching on fire. On the last ticket, he was kicked out for serving soggy chicken garnish. Though both teams finished service, Ramsay named no winner and had each team nominate one chef for elimination.

Elimination: Sabrina and Boris were nominated; Ramsay also nominated Nona and Melissa. Ramsay eliminated Melissa for her consistently poor performances, making too many simple mistakes, and failing to bounce back after her move to the blue team.

Melissa's comment: "It pisses me off that Sabrina is still in there. I don't feel that I had the chance to really show them what I can do. And I gave it a try. It's all I can say."

Ramsay's comment: "Melissa had a red jacket, she had a blue jacket, and now she has no jacket at all."

Team challenge: The chefs spun a modified roulette wheel with 18 letters of the alphabet.^{[note 1]} Each chef had to name an ingredient starting with the letter that the ball landed on and then had 30 minutes to cook a dish using those ingredients.^{[note 2]} The red team won after Rob failed to season asparagus and yams properly.

Reward/punishment: The red team flew to Las Vegas, where they stayed at the Rio Hotel & Casino and met Penn & Teller while the blue team prepped the potatoes to make assortments of French fries for the next service.

Service: The theme for service was family night. Special guests included Ramsay's family, and Jerry Springer and his family. Both teams managed to serve fries on time and had relatively few problems. In the blue kitchen, Vinny was scolded for making too many portions of risotto at once and attempting to serve an old risotto to Ramsay's wife due to being behind. Boris, despite cooking meat perfectly, almost sliced on a dirty board until Ramsay jumped in and Rob struggled to keep up on garnish. In the red kitchen, Jillian served a risotto with too little puree but quickly recovered, and Nona fell behind on garnish, requiring her team's assistance. In addition, Sabrina annoyed Trev due to asking him to continuously double check her meat, served undercooked chicken that Trev thought was cooked, cooked a grilled cheese too early and then argued with Trev about it. Ramsay declared a joint win after both teams nonetheless completed service with a satisfaction rating of 90%, but had them each nominate two chefs for elimination.

Elimination: The red team nominated Sabrina and Nona while the blue team nominated Boris and Rob. Ramsay called down Nona and Rob, and asked Rob to remove his jacket, but surprised him with a clean jacket, retaining all chefs for a job well done and choosing not to eliminate anyone.

Ramsay's comment: "Tonight, I finally got a respectable service, so I gave them a little respect and didn't send anyone home. But tomorrow, they're in for the most intense dinner service in the history of Hell's Kitchen."

Team challenge: The chefs visited Bristol Farms, where each team was given 20 minutes and $60 to buy ingredients for four dishes; beef, pork, lamb and chicken. They then had 45 minutes to cook their dishes. Four judges, one for each type of meat, were brought in to assess how much they would pay for the dishes. The red team won $110 to $101, with Nona's dish being valued the highest at $32.

Reward/punishment: The red team went sailing, had a seaside dinner, and went mambo dancing at the Maya Hotel in Long Beach, while the blue team had to fumigate both kitchens and prep them for the black tie dinner service.

Service: To celebrate Hell's Kitchen's 100th service, this service was an invitation-only, black tie affair. Four past Hell's Kitchen winners were sat at the chef's tables; Rahman "Rock" Harper (Season 3) and Christina Machamer (Season 4) in the blue kitchen, and Danny Veltri (Season 5) and Holli Ugalde (Season 7) in the red kitchen. Also in attendance were various dignitaries and celebrities such as cast members of Lesley Bargar Suter, Iqbal Theba, Patrick Gallagher, Hugh Garvey and Sarah Tenaglia. The red team near-flawlessly completed service, their only problems being Nona serving an old risotto and Trev falling behind on garnish due to not knowing which garnishes went with which protein. Eventually, the entire kitchen was called over to help him, and Trev was kicked out for burning carrots and squash and undercooking gnocchi. Nona took control of the station, ensuring a smooth service for the red team, in particular thanks to Gail's leadership. In the blue kitchen, Boris struggled to keep up on the appetizer station and give accurate times, eventually requiring Rob's help. Russell on garnish, refused to communicate properly with Rob on meat, which led to Rob forgetting a chicken for an order. This in turn backed up the blue kitchen, putting them eight tables behind the red kitchen. Vinny also had three lobsters returned from the dining room for being overcooked, and Ramsay kicked the blue team out after Rob served raw chicken and Vinny served undercooked lobster. The red team completed their service, being deemed clear winners.

Elimination: The blue team nominated Boris but could not choose between Rob and Vinny, so Ramsay nominated both of them. Ramsay eliminated Boris for his inconsistent performances, but praised him for his big heart. Ramsay then had Trev step forward as the episode ended in a cliffhanger.

Boris's comment: "My dream was to win Hell's Kitchen and prove to Gordon Ramsay that I can do it. But it was actually a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. He's a tough son of a bitch, I'll tell you that. But I go home with no regrets and I leave here inspired."

Team change: After warning Trev about his horrendous performance, Ramsay reassigned him to the blue team and warned him he was on his last chance, re-igniting the battle of the sexes. No elimination sequence was given for Boris, but his jacket and burnt photo could be seen when Ramsay hung up Gail's jacket.

Scott brought a room service cart where the chefs enjoyed its various offerings, but Ramsay noticed they could not tell a five-star appetizer from a fast-food one, leading to the next challenge.

Team challenge: The teams did a blindfold taste test of various food items. Russell identified two ingredients compared to Gail's one. Neither Sabrina nor Rob could identify any. Jillian and Vinny both scored two. Lastly, Nona scored three compared to Trev's one, giving the women a 6–5 win, and impressed Chef Ramsay on her palate.

Reward/punishment: The women were rewarded with a $2000 shopping spree at a local boutique, followed by lunch with Ramsay at XIV, a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Michael Mina, while the men removed recyclables from a garbage truck filled with trash, had American cheese sandwiches for lunch, and prepped both kitchens for service. Prior to service, Trev noticed the animosity present in the kitchen, particularly from Russell, acknowledging that things had changed since he had been on the men's team and knew he would have to perform perfectly that night in order to stay.

Service: In the women's kitchen, Jillian and Sabrina produced perfect appetizers and scallops respectively and got the kitchen off to a good start. However, Nona forgot to cook chicken and then struggled to slice it. Sabrina had a strong performance on fish and, thanks to her leadership, the women managed to keep sending out entrées. However, Nona again forgot to cook three portions of meat and argued with Ramsay after he caught her trying to sear it in a cold pan. Ramsay threw her out of the kitchen and had Jillian take over. In the men's kitchen, Trev produced perfect risotto and spaghetti, but Rob undercooked scallops, forcing Ramsay to show him how to properly cook them. On entrées, Rob undercooked halibut under pressure from Russell, but shaped up after a warning from Ramsay. Vinny was kicked out after he overcooked an egg dish and served raw gnocchi, followed by Russell for serving raw chicken and Rob for more undercooked fish; Trev managed to complete his team's service with help from Sous Chef Andi. Ramsay was dissatisfied but named the women winners, in particular praising Jillian and Sabrina, while naming Trev "Best of the Worst". After the post-mortem, Ramsay gave Nona encouragement but warned her not to argue with him again during service.

Elimination: Trev nominated Rob and Russell. Ramsay eliminated Rob for his disintegrating performances and outstaying his welcome.

Rob's comment: "You know, I had a one-in-seven shot at this point to win the prize, and I'm just pissed I didn't make it further. It's unfortunate because I think the wrong guy went home tonight, but I guess everybody says that."

Ramsay's comment: "If the size of one's waist corresponds to the size of one's talent, then Rob would be a fantastic chef. Instead, he just wears gigantic pants."

Team challenge: The chefs had to prepare three dishes: tagliatelle, salmon with lobster ragout and poached chicken. However, only one chef from the team was allowed in the kitchen at a time and the chef had five minutes before having 15 seconds to brief the next chef. Ramsay rated the dishes and awarded the men the win, since Jillian dropped her salmon.

Reward/punishment: The men were rewarded with a cooking equipment shopping spree at Sur La Table, followed by lunch at Mélisse, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Santa Monica, where they met its head chef, Josiah Citrin. The women took in deliveries of food for Hell's Kitchen.

Service: The teams created their own menus, and diners had a choice between the two. Although the diners ordered more from the women, Citrin ordered from the men. Nona made poor mushroom risotto and Gail was kicked out after she could not get a lobster capellini accepted in seven attempts. In the men's kitchen, Vinny forgot to cook Citrin's lamb, and then served it undercooked. Russell helped him, which allowed the men to serve Citrin's table, but Citrin reacted negatively to his lamb, angering Ramsay. After that, Vinny served raw sea bass, but recovered, and the men were then able to complete service. Although both teams completed service, Ramsay named no winner. Ramsay had the chefs individually nominate another for elimination.

Elimination: Russell nominated Vinny, Trev and Vinny nominated Sabrina, and all the women nominated Trev. Ramsay called Trev down, but gave him the first black jacket; Jillian, Nona, Russell and Sabrina were then given black jackets. Ramsay then gave Gail the last black jacket and eliminated Vinny for worsening performances.

Vinny's comment: "I lost. I had my shot right in front of my face, and I blew it. I came here with the intention of winning, and I failed. This is the worst night of my life. Chef Ramsay, I really wanted that black jacket so badly, you have no idea."

Ramsay's comment: "When the competition first started, I thought Vinny was the one to beat. But after tonight's dismal performance, he's now the one to go home."

Challenge: In the first individual challenge, each chef had 30 minutes to create five servings of an amuse-bouche to be judged by five notable chefs in the Los Angeles area with a score of 0 to 20 (10 for presentation and 10 for taste). The final ranking was: Russell (100), Gail (87), Sabrina (70), Nona (67), Jillian (65) and Trev (62).

Reward/punishment: Russell received a tour and lunch at LA Market with Ramsay and executive chef Kerry Simon, and chose Gail, as the runner-up, to join him. The others prepped the kitchen and cleaned the dorms.

Service: Nona served Steak Diane at tableside. The black jacket's had a terrible dinner service; Sabrina, Trev, and Gail backed up the kitchen repeatedly on appetizers, with Sabrina first overcooking and frying risotto, Trev serving "stewed" spaghetti, and Gail serving scallops with no color and then overcooking them when she attempted to resear them. In addition, Russell caused friction by ordering Trev around appetizers, while Trev and Sabrina struggled to work together. After Trev screamed at Sabrina over a miscommunication over lobster spaghetti, Sous-Chef Scott angrily told him to get his act together. Ramsay later berated them for not working as a team as Trev got increasingly angry over Sabrina's repeated requests for times. As a result of Sabrina and Trev's repeated problems, entrees eventually caught up with appetizers. However, on entrees, Gail served burnt halibut and watery salmon and Jillian served salty mashed potato. After Russell undercooked Wellingtons, Ramsay issued an ultimatum to shut down service after another mistake. Some entrées were served, but after Russell undercooked ribeye, Ramsay threw everyone out. Afterwards, Ramsay named Nona as the only good performer of the night, thanks to her flawless tableside service, but nonetheless ordered the team to nominate two chefs as a group rather than giving Nona full power.

Elimination: Trev and Sabrina were nominated.^{[note 3]} Ramsay eliminated Sabrina for her inconsistency and lack of maturity, but praised her for her big heart.

Sabrina's comment: "I came here in Hell's Kitchen not knowing anything about how a brigade works. Being 22, I am a bit immature. There's a lot I have to learn about life. But I'm leaving Hell's Kitchen as a fighter. I've fought from day one. I fought with Chef Ramsay. I fought with everybody. I gave it everything that I had. This experience has definitely changed my life forever. I'm definitely gonna continue on this path, wherever it takes me. Chef Ramsay hasn't seen the last of me."

Ramsay's comment: "Sabrina was quite dramatic in her final plea, but I'm not looking for a drama queen. I'm looking for a head chef."

Challenge: The chefs had to prepare 80 portions of their signature dishes in one hour in a food truck; the diners at LA Market ranked the dishes from best to worst. Over 40% of the diners voted for Gail's skirt steak with mangoes and pecans as the best, narrowly beating out Nona's chicken salad and bacon sandwich, while Russell's grilled octopus and aioli salad was deemed the worst.

Reward/punishment: Gail received a makeover at José Eber's studio in Beverly Hills followed by a trip back to Hollywood for a new style look by Steve "Cojo" Cojocaru. The others had to clean the exterior of Hell's Kitchen, followed by the food trucks.

Service: Ramsay assigned stations to the chefs. In addition to Cojo, Paris Hilton and twelve Marines were also in attendance. The kitchen immediately got off to a terrible start, with Jillian repeatedly overcooking scallops due to her inexperience working the fish station, and Nona undercooking spaghetti. Both managed to recover after Russell showed Jillian how to cook the scallops. However, the kitchen continued to have trouble on entrées, with Jillian continuing to struggle on fish until Russell helped her, and Gail failing to communicate with the rest of the kitchen. After Gail and Trev served under cooked fries and ribeye respectively Ramsay and Scott stormed out of the kitchen, making this the second time he did so. The final five sent out appetizers under Russell and Nona's leadership, but stalled on entrées when Trev overcooked ribeye and then tried to quickly flash grill the undercooked ribeye from before (which had sat on the pass for fifteen minutes) for the re-fire. Ramsay returned with Scott and shuffled the chefs' stations, issuing an ultimatum to kick out anyone who made a mistake. He kicked out Gail for undercooking salmon and Jillian for serving a raw egg dish, while the remaining three completed service.

Elimination: After dinner service, Ramsay berated the chefs, particularly Gail, Jillian, and Trev. Ramsay noted that Jillian had better services weeks ago, while Gail couldn't seem to cook for more than one table at a time, and that it was Trev's undercooked meat that drove him to exit the kitchen. He then instructed the team to come up with two nominations for elimination, and the team ultimately decided on Gail and Trev. Ramsay accepted the nominations but also demanded an explanation from Jillian for her performance. Ramsay eliminated Gail for her worsening performances over the past three services, remarking that he expected her to go further based on her strong start and was disappointed.

Gail's comment: "I wish I could've stayed longer, but my time was up. I thought I was a strong cook before I came to Hell's Kitchen. But now, after leaving Hell's Kitchen, I think I realized that I have a few things to work on. I did disappoint myself. But there are so many highlights. Winning the challenges and getting to go on the rewards, they totally outweigh all the lowlights. I leave here with great memories, new friends, fantastic clothes, and a great haircut."

Ramsay's comment: "Gail's performance in Hell's Kitchen was up and down, up and down, and up and down. Roller coasters are great for amusement parks, not kitchens."

Challenge: Each chef had 30 minutes to cook an entrée using the ingredients provided; Ramsay tasted each dish and identified its ingredients by taste alone. This led to the actual "taste it, make it" challenge, where the chefs had 45 minutes to recreate a dish that Ramsay made without knowing the ingredients. Jillian made a good-tasting dish, but missed every ingredient except for the chicken stock. Trev correctly identified port wine in the sauce and carrot purée (everyone else used yam purée), but forgot to plate the puree, and used pork instead of veal. Nona and Russell were declared the top two for correctly identifying veal, but Russell seasoned his cabbage with bacon instead of pancetta as required, thus giving Nona the win.

Reward/punishment: Nona was rewarded with a spa day at Hands On Boutique in Beverly Hills, a copy of Ramsay's cookbook, Recipes From a 3 Star Chef, and a set of Demeyere Cookware. She chose Russell, as the runner-up, to accompany her for her spa day. Trev and Jillian prepped the kitchen and did laundry, including Ramsay's chef's whites. Prior to service, Ramsay gave Jillian a pep talk after her recent poor performances.

Service: Trev spent a long time slicing beef Wellingtons despite cooking them perfectly. When he tripped and forgot two wellingtons, Ramsay put him in "time out" twice. Russell had some mishaps on scallops and halibut and Nona miscooked risotto twice, but Jillian cooked garnishes perfectly. Eventually, they completed service, which Ramsay called "not perfect, but bloody good".

Elimination: Trev and Russell were nominated. However, Ramsay spared them and surprised the chefs with visits from their families (Nona's husband and son, Jillian's boyfriend and sons, Russell's parents and girlfriend, and Trev's best friend and sister), announcing no elimination until next time.

Ramsay announced that since no chef was eliminated last time, he would eliminate two chefs in this round.

Challenge: The chefs had 45 minutes to cook a fusion cuisine dish, using a combination of ingredients from two countries, selected by drawing flags at random.^{[note 4]} Each dish was then judged by three chefs who were experts in fusion cuisine. While Trev, Nona and Russell received mediocre reviews, Jillian impressed with her Spanish/Thai paella dish.

Reward/punishment: Jillian joined her family and Ramsay for lunch at Spago in Beverly Hills, while the others cleared out the dorm furnishings of their past opponents. Prior to the service, Ramsay told the chefs they would each have a turn handling the pass.

Service: Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Sasha Vujačić was a guest at the chef's table while Sanjaya Malakar attended as a guest. As each chef took a turn on the pass, Scott introduced some deliberate errors. Russell rejected Trev's scallops and spotted pecans in a salad instead of walnuts. Nona was strong in leadership, rejecting Russell's chowder, but was not able to spot mashed celery root being served instead of mashed potatoes. Trev tried to send out entrees before appetizers on a table and had trouble getting the attention of his teammates, but spotted sea bass being served instead of halibut and kept entrées leaving the kitchen at a steady rate. Jillian initially struggled in leadership, but recovered after prompting by Ramsay, rejecting Trev's undercooked fish, though she failed to spot ribeye being served instead of New York strip.

Elimination: Ramsay firstly eliminated Trev, but praised him for his determination. Ramsay then selected Russell and Nona to advance to the final, eliminating a teary-eyed Jillian. Ramsay allowed Jillian to keep her jacket, though her photo was burned.

Trev's comment: "I'm feeling, you know, disappointed. I really overcame a lot at Hell's Kitchen. I took more shit from the other contestants than I did from Chef Ramsay. I was struggling with egos, with attitude, up against executive chefs. I stood on my own two feet in this kitchen. I really, really tried to win this thing. But ultimately, heart and determination did not win out over experience. So fuck 'em."

Jillian's comment: "I never thought I would make it this far. This experience proved to me that I have what it takes to be a chef. I got great comments from some world-class chefs. I'm the only person that never got put up for elimination in Hell's Kitchen, and that says a lot. It's hard, but I did the best I could. I'm not gonna give up. I know I made my kids proud, and I know this isn't the end for me. Like, honestly, I don't feel like I deserve to be standing here. I feel like I should be in the final, too, but..."

Ramsay's comment: "Jillian didn't let her lack of fine dining experience get in the way. She made it this far because of her passion and determination. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough to get her into the final."

Nona and Russell talked with the sous chefs on preparing a full dinner service where they would run their own kitchens. They were taken by helicopter to the top of the JW Marriott for their final individual challenge.

Challenge: Nona and Russell prepared five dishes for a taste challenge; each dish was judged by an executive or executive chef, including Kerry Simon. Russell won 3–2.

Reward: Russell was granted first pick in drafting a team using the eight chefs eliminated from the competition prior to the final. Russell picked Jillian, Vinny, Sabrina and Rob, while Nona picked Gail, Melissa and Trev, and was left with Boris. In particular, Vinny felt Russell cost him a black jacket by nominating him, and did not want to be on his team, displaying poor attitude throughout prep until Russell threatened to kick him out.

Service: Both teams got through appetizers fine, save for Vinny undercooking scallops and Trev overdressing a beet salad. On entrees, Sabrina cooked a filet in stock before she served it raw, so Russell switched her with Vinny on fish. Rob ran out of tomato water for ravioli and Russell sent Jillian to help him, irritating Rob and nearly leading to a physical confrontation. Russell tried to serve two tables at once, but this backfired when one dish was returned for being undercooked, earning him a warning from Ramsay. In the red kitchen, Boris served raw halibut three times, forcing Trev to jump in, causing an argument to erupt between the two that Nona had to defuse. Melissa served raw steak to Nona's husband, but recovered. Both teams finished service.

Winner: Ramsay determined the winner based on the diners' comments and his own observations. Each finalist stood in front of a door; Nona's door opened, making her the eighth winner of Hell's Kitchen. Unlike the first seven runners-up of Hell's Kitchen, Russell took his defeat ungraciously, blaming his teammates for his loss.

Russell's comment: "I'm pissed. I'm not happy at all. I chose the team that I wanted, and I thought they would help me win, and in fact, they helped me lose, so, you know, thanks a lot, guys. You will never get a job in any city I work. I'm gonna definitely blackball you guys, because you guys fucked me so royally tonight."

Nona's comment: "My door opened! It opened! This is nuts! I fought, I fought, and I fought, and this is just amazing. I'm so thankful. This was a huge sacrifice. Missing my son's first birthday, missing his first steps, it's absolutely worth it to make his life better."

Ramsay's comment: "When Hell's Kitchen first started, I used to say, 'No, no, no' to Nona. After every service, she improved dramatically, and I was soon saying, 'Yes, yes, yes'. She has a phenomenal palate and a real passion for cooking. Soon, all of America will be saying 'yes' with me when they see her excel as the head chef of LA Market."