Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 16)

The 18 chefs arrive in Los Angeles to begin the season. The chefs are excited to see Hell's Kitchen, but Chef Ramsay surprised the chefs by telling them they are not heading into Hell's Kitchen... at least, not yet. The chefs' first destination is the U.S. Army's training facility. Upon arriving, Ramsay pops out of a military tank and reveals why they are not in the kitchen. "Before you can enter Hell's Kitchen, I need to make sure that all of you have the discipline needed to survive," Ramsay explained. The sergeants directed the chefs to get into their military uniforms and begin the obstacle course. Ramsay originally tasked them to climb a 45' wall before entering, but the wall fell on top of him that revealed Hell's Kitchen and a group of people which then leads to the chefs' very first challenge.

Team challenge/signature dish: Once inside Hell's Kitchen, the chefs had 45 minutes to create their signature dish and present it to Ramsay in front of a live audience where he scores each dish on a scale of 1–5. Pat scores a 3 with his bass in the first round, while Gia scores a 4 with her shrimp and grits. Aaron scores a 4 with his pork schnitzel, while Wendy disappoints with a 2. Both Paulie and Heather amaze chef Ramsay with their scallops and polenta cake and ribeye, respectfully, each garnering a full 5. Both Devin and Kimberly disappoint, with Kimberly using premade pasta and canned clams. Matt's dove breast also garners a disappointing 1, compared to Aziza's 2. Genaro also scores a 1 with his duck, while Ryan's scallops impress Ramsay with another perfect 5. Koop gets a 4 for his surf and turf, while Shaina gets a 3 for her salmon. Andrew scores a 2 with his poorly executed mushrooms, while Jessica garners a 1 with her risotto. Lastly, a strong effort by Johnny with his ribeye, which scored a 4, gives the men a 25–23 lead, but Heidi clinches the challenge for the women with a 4 on her homemade gnocchi, winning the challenge 27–25.

Reward/punishment: The women rode a hummer to Takami Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles for a special dinner with Ramsay and spend time with 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 transport the rises out of Hell's Kitchen, under the direction of maitre d' Marino. While Pat sits out of the punishment, the guys made fun of Matt's signature dish that 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 Go-Pro up his ass" if he made another excuse for unacceptable scallops. After Matt and Genaro sent up an overcooked and an undercooked sea bass, both of them are kicked out. Paulie moves to fish, but also serves raw bass, causing Ramsay to kick the rest of the men out, while the women finish 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, his friend Johnny saved him and argued that Matt should go up for his disrespectful attitude towards Ramsay. Matt and Pat were ultimately nominated for elimination. Ramsay eliminated Pat for his poor performance on the appetizer station and surrendering full control to Paulie.

Team challenge: The chefs head into the SUVs and arrive at a raceway. Ramsay informs them that for this competition, they would be partaking in the first-ever Crepe Grand Prix. The teams must cook the perfect chicken and mushroom-stuffed crepes and race in golf carts to deliver the crepes to him. Whichever team delivered 10 perfect crepes to Ramsay first would be the winners of this challenge. The men won their first challenge after the women's last crepe was rejected.

Reward/punishment: The men spent the day heading out to Santa Barbara on a 73' yacht for dinner with Marino and riding the jet skis. The women had to unload a delivery of fish where they have to descale them, remove their insides and properly prepare them. In addition, Andi served them a special milkshake made up of raw scallops, fish guts, and fish eyes, causing Wendy and Aziza to vomit, though the former took it harder than Aziza did. Shaina received an actual milkshake, but didn't tell her team until she was called out by Ramsay before dinner service, irritating Heidi.

Service: Noureen DeWulf and Dash Mihok were in attendance. Johnny, Paul, Heidi, and Shaina handled the Dover sole appetizer. In the red 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 blue 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 the entrees, Genaro sent up raw New York strip twice, causing Ramsay to take drastic measures and called the women over to the blue kitchen, told the women to take over and kicked the men out of the kitchen for the second dinner 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 poor service performance.

Team challenge: The chefs entered to see Ramsay standing in front of them with countless eggs around him. The teams were instructed to prepare various platters of ostrich meat with the only ingredients they could use hidden inside of the ostrich eggs. Ramsay then told them that they would have four minutes, in which time to smash as many ostrich eggs as they can to reveal their ingredients. After the four minutes were up, the chefs had 40 minutes to prepare their ostrich dishes. The women won easily, because Johnny made two dishes that the judges called kids food and with Wendy's dish being proclaimed the best.

Reward/punishment: Ramsay sent the women off for a day of zip lining at Big Bear in a private jet. The guys had to clean up the mess the ostrich eggs left behind from the challenge. While the rest of the team worked on 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 ditching them on punishment.

Service: Andrew and Jessica each served rock shrimp pesto tagliatelle appetizer. The men stumbled when Koop made too much risotto, 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 red 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 takes Jessica's overcooked tagliatelle and reports it to Ramsay while she attempts to start over but was called back to the kitchen when Ramsay also discovers raw salmon and the poor execution of the Beef Wellington. All three issues caused the women to get kicked out of service.

Elimination: Gia and Jessica were nominated, though Jessica nominated herself. Despite Gia's horrendous performance, she revealed that Jessica had packed her bags prior to the elimination. This led to Jessica being eliminated as Ramsay felt she lacked the confidence and fightback to become a head chef. Jessica is the first contestant in the show's history to be eliminated after a service where they were on tableside.

Team challenge: The chefs entered to see Ramsay standing in front of them a variety of proteins behind him. The teams were divided into groups of two. 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 meals 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. The women take a slightly different track with Heidi and Ryan pairing up due to their friendship despite Shaina insisting that they should pair 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 took eight, winning the challenge.

Reward/punishment: The men rode the waves on a flowrider at The Wave House in San Diego. The women made sausage from scratch and chowed down on bizarre items no one would ever want to eat. 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. The mussels and sausage tableside were each handled by Wendy and Devin. In the red kitchen, Aziza deep fried her scallops after adding too much oil to the pan. Later on, the Red Team managed to finish cooking their entrees, but were forced to wait on Gia's garnish, resulting in Ryan assisting. Meanwhile, in the blue 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.

Team challenge: The chefs choose an opponent on the opposite team, while the opponent chooses a body of water, with a fish written on the back of a scroll held by a sailor on a ship in the middle of the room. 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 the win.

Reward/punishment: The men dined with Ramsay at Petty Cash and got to go bowling. The women broke down and diced up a large shipment of potatoes, carrots, and celery (mirepoix) for a seafood chowder in addition to cleaning the 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 even worse. While in the kitchen, Kimberly irritated her teammates by asking a lot of basic questions.

Service: Chef's tables took center stage with Joe Perry in the blue kitchen and Estelle in the red kitchen. Matt and Heather each handled the clam chowder tableside. Aziza and Paulie each led well on appetizers. However, in the blue kitchen, Devin served up cold asparagus while Johnny sent up raw salmon. In the red 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 mentions one more but refuses to say that individual's name and instead wants his nominee to step forward. Johnny voluntarily steps forward. Ramsay sends Devin and Johnny back in line, and, to the disgust of the women, eliminates Aaron for his low confidence, inexperience, and failure to gain his team's respect, but is praised for his passion and skill.

Team challenge: The teams have five minutes to use the books to spell out an ingredient on the cross board. They each then have 45 minutes to make a dish that consists any of the ingredients that were spelled out. Since the blue team is one man down, the red team chose Aziza's dish to sit out due to her chicken being under cooked. Ramsay scored each dish on a scale of 1–5, with 1 being a disaster, and 5 being a "truly outstanding dish". The men went first starting with Paulie earning 1 point, Devin got 4 points, Matt got 3, Johnny got 3 points, Koop got 4 points, while Andrew scored 2 points. The men's total came to 17 points, leaving the door open for the women. Next, the women went starting with Kimberly earning 4 points, Heidi got 4 points, Wendy got 2 points, Heather got 1 point, while Shaina scored 1 point. The women needed Ryan to earn 5 points to tie the men, but was only able to earn 4 points, although being the best dish for the women. With the women earning 16 points, the men won their third consecutive challenge.

Reward/punishment: While the women preps the dining room and bake cookies ahead of family night as well as organizing the crayons after Marino spilled them on the floor, the guys spend their day riding ice bumper cars and enjoying a steak dinner.

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, Alicia Fox amongst others. Kimberly and Andrew handled the quesadilla station. Both teams had rocky services. In the red kitchen, Shaina served raw pizza despite Heidi's warning, Aziza struggled on garnish, Wendy served raw lamb, and Heather served raw salmon. In the blue kitchen, Paulie had a poor performance, serving a raw burger and undercooked sea bass on a later ticket, Johnny served a raw egg, and Devin served 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 and because of the numerous mistakes in both kitchens, Ramsay announced that there will be no winning team 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.

Team challenge: One chef from each team must make a southern dish with the protein that was revealed in their selected dome. Their dishes will then be judged head to head by Ramsay and guest judge Chris Hastings. Koop sliced his fingers during the challenge, but was starting to feel nauseated while he was being treated by the medic. Because of this, he did not participate. The women won 3–2. In addition, Wendy's winning dish was featured on the menu in the next service.

Reward/punishment: The women went horseback riding at Gibson Ranch and had their lunch delivered by Wings N' Waffles. The men ground the corn and shelled the shrimp for the shrimp and grits appetizer in addition to prepping both kitchens. Koop contemplates quitting after his injury, but decided against it.

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

Team change: Shaina and Wendy were both nominated. Wendy thought she was eliminated but Ramsay spares her and also tells Shaina to take off her jacket, and then switches 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 have 40 minutes to work together to come up with a pair of chicken, beef and fish entrees that are packed with International flavor. Jonathan Roberts and Michelle Johnston will not only judged the dancing competition tomorrow night, but will also pick the dishes that will be on the menu. Wendy won the chicken entree round for the blue team, but it was Kimberly and Ryan on their respective fish and beef entree's that won it for the red team.

Reward/punishment: The red team went kayaking in Santa Barbara and ate seafood at The Lark. The blue team preps 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 to work on desserts, to finish their service for them.

Elimination: The blue team failed to decide from 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 since Season 6 a nominee(s) has been called with no reason. 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.

Team challenge: The teams put their palates to the test where each chef must correctly identify the ingredient they are tasting in pureed baby food while being blind folded. 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 will be splattered in baby food once if their teammate gets three wrong and twice for four wrong. Wendy went first and last due to the blue team being one chef down. Wendy scored 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. then 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, the taste test went into sudden death. After one failed sudden death round that resulted in Shaina and Heather getting splattered, Wendy won when she identified turnips, giving the blue team the victory.

Reward/punishment: The blue team enjoyed a day of massages and lunch at a penthouse suite in Intercontinental. The red team hauled in the ice and wine in addition to prepping both kitchens. They 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 that tells them to unload 52 instead 102.

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 would later tell 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, causing them to break the series record for most times a team was thrown out of the kitchen. 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. This disappointed the rest of the blue team, as Devin, Shaina, and Wendy had truly wanted Paulie to be eliminated, not Koop. Ramsay then dismisses the blue team and asks the red team decide by tomorrow morning on one member to go the blue team.

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

Team challenge: After each member decided on the protein they'll be working with, they then had 40 minutes to create their own sliders. But they must slide into the ball pit first and pick an ingredient from their respective color balls before heading back into the kitchen to make their sliders out of their chosen protein and ingredients that will be judged by Adam Fleischman, Sang Yoo and previous Hell's Kitchen winner Christina Wilson. This challenge resulted in a tie after Ryan won the last round with her lamb sliders but the judges chose Heidi's chicken sliders as the overall best dish of the day, resulting in another victory for the Red Team.

Reward/punishment: While the blue team cleaned the LA River, 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.

Service: Crystal Hefner was a guest in attendance. In addition, each kitchen featured a pair of VIP guests in 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'd 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 struggling with communication as well as 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, 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. In a double elimination, Ramsay then sent Kimberly and Wendy back in line, and eliminated Matt for his arrogance, poor performance on fish as well as being on a downward spiral since being moved to the red team.

Team challenge: Each pair must remake Ramsay's signature dish while identifying an ingredient they're tasting with one chef tasting the dish and the other making it.

Reward/punishment: The blue team did trapeze training at the Santa Monica Pier. In addition, Ryan and Wendy were rewarded their very own Vitamix blenders. Prior to service, Ramsay revealed that each team will work a twelve top table. The red team were made to work decorating the dining room ahead of tonight's service in addition to making beet roses. Wendy was the only member of the blue team that didn't do the reward due to her phobia of heights.

Service: Both teams must bring their A game when Ramsay announced that this service will be hosting a very special private event for the contributors from Stand Up to Cancer. Each member 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. Wendy and Kimberly led the lobster risotto well though Wendy made 4 differently colored risottos and Kimberly plated different size 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 didn't face problems apart from Devin cutting himself 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 palate.

Team challenge: One member from the blue team and one member from the red team spin the wheel that reveals which country they'll be working with. Heather and Ryan got Japanese and French (which were the two cuisines she 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 join and she picked Ryan and Heather. They then have 45 minutes to create a dish that combines the two countries. Roy Yamaguchi judged each pair head to head. Both teams tied at 1–1, but Yamaguchi chose Ryan's dish as the best, despite her unfamiliarity with the cuisine and lack of support from Paulie, giving the blue team the win.

Reward/punishment: The blue team spent $2,000 at Surfas. They also enjoyed a seven-course meal at Providence. The red team broke down giant pieces of beef and prepped the potatoes for a tableside appetizer to be served at the next service.

Service: Guests dining in attendance were Kellita Smith, Jasika Nicole, Patrick Renna and Tommy Savas. The red team had a near perfect service their only problems being one guest on Kellita Smith's table found hair in the salad and Kimberly occasionally being slow, while delivering perfect dishes. The blue team, however, had a rough service. Ryan struggled on appetizers to the point that she accidentally threw out a serving of risotto needed, Devin struggled on the meat section and forgot to remember an order, and Paulie ran out of sea bass portions, 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 and they ended up with Devin who wanted Ryan as his nominee. After deciding, Ramsay eliminated Devin for his poor performance across all services and challenges, feeling he wasn't ready to lead a brigade, but praised him for his passion and big heart.

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 announces a Hell's Kitchen first where the chefs face a grueling three part challenge that will determine who receives the prestigious black jacket.

First challenge: Each chef had 30 minutes to create a dish out of the surprise ingredients from each dome right after Ramsay rings the bell. Heather and Heidi received the first two black jackets and also receive passes to the Black Jacket Lounge.

Second challenge: The remaining chefs created a dish that is based on the same ingredients they received. Ryan joined Heidi and Heather followed by Paulie.

Third challenge: Kimberly and Andrew had three minutes to pick their own ingredients at a farmer's market outside of Hell's Kitchen. They then have thirty minutes to create two small dishes. However, Ramsay will not pick the chef to receive the final black jacket. He instead tested their peers by having the black jackets taste each dish without knowing who made what.

Elimination: After revealing which dish was made by Kimberly and Andrew, the black jackets voted their choice for best dish. 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, which resulted in Andrew being eliminated, but encouraged him to continue his career.

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 comfort.

Challenge: The newly-minted final five face each other in a race to press the buzzer in order to get to the last three ingredients after the first three ingredients were provided by Ramsay via cards. Ramsay handed Heidi the last card, despite not being the last chef to hit the buzzer in time, which was revealed to be a lemon card. They also must impress Ramsay and guest judge Jenn Louis in order to sit on the high chair unless one chef's dish is named the better dish than the chef on the high chair. Kimberly impressed the judges with her dish, but Paulie quickly overtook her and held onto the high chair until Heather defeated him and secured victory.

Reward/punishment: Heather got to enjoy the suite life in the Presidential Suite at the Venetian in Las Vegas and chose Heidi to go with her. The others recycled the trash during recycling day.

Service: Each chef took a turn in assisting Ramsay while Andi and Aaron sat at the chef's table. Dining in attendance were Neil Everett, Pauly Shore and Erik Griffin. The service was very rocky. Paulie struggled on fish, serving undercooked scallops and raw lobster, then struggling on garnish. Kimberly messed up multiple times on appetizers and also struggled as a sous chef. Heather served raw sea bass, but recovered. The last straw was Paulie's raw pancetta garnish, causing all of them 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 both as a sous chef and on her various stations throughout the night, 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.

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

Challenge: The final three created a unique dining experience for multiple chef judges and guest judges Bruce Kalman, Steve Samson, Mette Williams, and Alessio Biagini. Each chef was challenged to create a tableside entree and serving it on a trolley. Ryan won by a landslide vote.

Reward/punishment: Ryan took a helicopter tour of Los Angeles with Andi in addition to dining with Ramsay at Firefly. Heather and Heidi worked on wrapping gifts for the Hell's Kitchen staff as well as steaming their clothes and polishing their shoes.

Service: Tara Reid was a guest at the chef's table while Adrian Gonzalez, 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. However, Heather stalled with unseared scallops and a broken scallop. Heather at the pass mistook arctic char for salmon, but overall ran the pass well. Ryan ran the pass last, while Heidi struggled with an order of risotto. Although Ryan had difficulty reading a combined two two-top table 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 praises her for her strength in the competition. He allows her to keep her jacket, though still gives her the picture burning elimination sequence.

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 the Ken Pavés 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, turns out to be the finalists' final challenge that will be held in front of a live audience including their families.

Challenge: Each chef had one hour to create four dishes and present them to a panel of guest judges which includes Walter Manzke, Michael Cimarusti, Susan Feniger, and 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. Ryan won the first entree round and selected Heidi. Heather then won the last two rounds 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. The red kitchen, led by Heather, started out strong on appetizers despite being disorganized by sending out 2 tables at once. In the blue kitchen, led by Ryan, Paulie was very bitter about having to work for Ryan despite having no material incentive to perform well and thus gave her little respect. 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 garnish from Andrew, and raw fish from Shaina, forcing Ramsay to give her a pep talk. Afterwards, Heather regained control of her team. Kimberly sent up raw ribeye again, forcing Heather to move Devin to the meat station and Kimberly to desserts. In the blue kitchen, Wendy served raw salmon twice, forcing Ryan to switch her with 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.