Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 8)

Sixteen contestants arrive at Hell's Kitchen and meet James, the new maître d'. They are taken to the LA Market restaurant in JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live, and are told that the competition winner will become the head chef there. Ramsay arrives and has them return to the kitchen to prepare their signature dishes.

• Team challenge: The chefs are divided into men (blue) and women (red) teams. The winner would be the team with more signature dishes liked by Ramsay. Once again, the signature dish challenge was men vs women. Jillian, Sabrina (who was called out earlier in the challenge for yawning and was forced to sit on a chair), Emily, Russell, Vinny and Boris all impressed Chef Ramsay with their dishes, all earning points. Raj also received vaguely positive feedback with Ramsay stating the seafood tasted quite nice but the dish was completely ruined by horrendous presentation making it unable to earn a point. The remaining dishes were very poorly received, some examples include Nona's dish getting highly panned for undercooked asparagus and for her choice of honey in fried chicken, Rob didn't fare much better with incredibly raw lamb, Trev's dish was considered to be an embarrassment, Ramsay deemed Curtis' lemon pepper chicken "shit", Gail had burned potatoes and Lisa's dish was panned for being too dry. Though none of them compared to Antonia's Mardi Gras Gumbo, which made Ramsay vomit within seconds of eating it and make everyone else taste it, with Nona and Vinny almost vomiting as well. With the score at 3–3, Ramsay says that the "kitchen is only as good as its weakest link." He judges Antonia's gumbo to be the worst, which gives the men the win.

The blue team receives massages while the red team cleans the kitchen. Shortly before the dinner service, Antonia complains about a migrane and later collapses. She is rushed to the hospital and would not return to the competition.

• Dinner service: Raj and Emily were assigned as waiters for their respective teams while Boris and Melissa were assigned for a special pizza menu. The red team runs into trouble with the entrees as Lisa undercooks her scallops, while Sabrina tries to serve her beef Wellingtons too early, completely bypassing her team. The blue team also has problems as Trev overdresses the salads; Boris mocks Ramsay and is warned to never do it again; Raj and Boris have trouble making the amuse-bouche pizzas. After two hours with no entrees and only a small handful of appetizers, Ramsay shuts down the kitchens and declares no winner.

Nominees for elimination: The men instantly decide on Raj for his problems as a waiter and on the pizza station (with Raj believing they were doing it out of sheer jealousy) and Trev for his inability to dress salad. The women decide on Lisa for her horrendous performance on the fish station and Sabrina for completely bypassing her team on the meat station. Sabrina launched a childish attack on Nona thinking she should be eliminated for her choice of fried chicken as the protein in her signature dish. When Louis was asked for the men's nominees (Raj and Trev), Louis felt that Raj was delusional about how he performed with Ramsay agreeing with him and Gail revealed the women nominated Lisa and Sabrina. During her plea, Sabrina launched more personal attacks on Lisa and Nona saying Nona should go home for snoring & using fried chicken in her signature dish.

Elimination: Lisa for her abysmal performance on the fish station and feeling she was over her head.

The contestants are awakened by taiko drumming, signifying the theme of the next challenge.

• Team challenge: The contestants work in pairs to make sushi according to Ramsay and master sushi chef Masaharu Morimoto's specifications. After the duos prepare the sushi, Ramsay has the blue team sit out a duo to even out the numbers. On the red team, none of Melissa and Gail's pieces are acceptable, but Nona and Jillian get a near perfect score. Some of the blue team duos forget to put wasabi on their pieces. Overall the blue team wins with 16 acceptable pieces compared to the red team's 15.

The blue team wins a trip to Cellar360 in San Francisco for wine tasting, and they get to keep the Morimoto knives. The red team has to eat a selection of "delicacies from around the world."

• Dinner service: Ramsay appoints Vinny and Jillian as assistant maître d’s. On the red team, Emily has trouble with the meat, while Melissa is confused about garnishes. Ramsay switches Melissa with Jillian, but the red team eventually finish their service. The blue team has trouble taking the customer orders and rolling out their dishes. When Vinny tells customers not to order side dishes because it involves Raj's station, Ramsay gets furious and kicks him out of the kitchen. He kicks out Curtis for not putting wasabi on the rolls, Raj for stacking the garnish station, and eventually the entire blue team when Louis unbalances the amount of walnuts on a salad. The blue team express their frustrations, mostly on Raj with Louis, Boris and Vinny arguing with him.

Ramsay has the blue team nominate two chefs for the elimination phase. They initially plan to nominate Raj and Curtis, but Curtis gets his team to nominate Boris instead. Ramsay then adds Vinny to the lineup as Ramsay was infuriated at Vinny for telling customers not to order sides as the entrees on the menu were designed specifically to go with garnish. After the three chefs plead their cases, Ramsay spares all three nominees, but eliminates Curtis for being the main reason for the blue team's collapse.

The chefs awaken to a group of paramedics who give them health exams.

• Team challenge: The teams cook breakfast for fifty paramedics, where the winner is the fastest serving team. On the blue team, Rob forgets pineapple on some of the fruit salad bowls and they are recalled. On the red team, Emily burns the bacon and has to recook it. The red team serves all their tables before the blue team even served one table thanks to Raj's abysmal performance on scrambled eggs so Ramsay had the women help the men serve their orders.

The red team's prize is a visit to the Santa Monica's Viceroy Hotel and a session of trapeze school. The blue team has to clean the kitchens and polish stemware. While cleaning both kitchens Trev criticized Raj for his severe lack of effort & feels he should be better considering he's had more cooking experience than Gordon Ramsay, Raj shouted back at him & called the blue team a bunch of snakes.But Boris managed to get Raj to calm down and they continue their punishment.

• Dinner service: Ramsay puts Trev and Sabrina in charge of their teams. In the red kitchen, Emily checks the appetizers, but some of them are returned for being too salty; Melissa's Dover sole is overcooked, and Gail dozes off and one of her meat pans catch on fire. In the blue kitchen, although Vinny does well on the appetizers, Boris has trouble cooking the beef Wellington, and Raj cannot cook any of the Dover sole to Ramsay's satisfaction. After several tries, he runs out of sole and argued with Ramsay about having to apologize to the diners before Scott finally steps in. Although both teams finish the service, Ramsay cannot pick a clear winner, so he garners the customer comment cards from the diners, and the blue team narrowly wins.

The red team chooses Emily but surprisingly nominated Sabrina, even though she was not in the kitchen (with Jillian fully admitting at the elimination she disagreed and felt Melissa should've been nominated). After the chefs plead their cases, Ramsay spares them and eliminates Raj instead, for being a terrible performer in three straight services, much to the needed relief for the Blue Team.^{[note 1]}

Ramsay asks the chefs how many of them smoke, and then encourages them not to. He then demonstrates the next challenge: to cook ravioli.

• Team challenge: Each chef must cook ravioli fashioned by their own pasta, filling and sauce. They must then present the dishes from best to worst, at which Ramsay awards a point if it is to his liking, and if none of them have burst. The chefs get good reviews, except for Louis. In the last pairing of "worst" raviolis, Ramsay declares the blue team the winner. Vinny's dish is put on the dinner service menu.

The blue team takes a helicopter trip to a coastal resort to play golf, while the red team has to clean the kitchen and milk cows. Whilst the men enjoy the reward, Trev however was very unsatisfied with the win & yelled at them for shoving his ravioli aside. Russell & Rob tried to calm him down & Vinny apologized for hurting his feelings & to just enjoy the reward. Trev wanted to move to The Red Team hoping they would accept him more.

• Dinner service: The blue team gets ahead on the ravioli. However, at the entrées, Louis undercooks the meat and is scolded by sous chef Scott for holding sliced pork chops by his hands. When Rob burns a pizza, Ramsay makes him eat it. Ramsay kicks out Boris for washing dishes instead of cooking, and Louis for continuing to serve barely cooked food. In the red kitchen, Sabrina cooks the pork chops inconsistently and is out of sync with Gail's garnishing. With Boris & Louis sent out the other four men were able to get entrees out of the kitchen when Louis and Boris were ejected. The Red team finishes its service and is ordered to help the Blue team, but unfortunately, this made the situation even worse, so Ramsay kicks them all out and has the Scott and Andi do it. Ramsay declares both teams losers due to their inability to finish off the Blue Team's remaining tickets.

In the elimination round, the blue team nominates Louis and Boris, while the red team nominates Melissa and Sabrina. Ramsay calls Melissa and Boris to come down but places them back in line. He eliminates Louis for struggling on the grill station.

• Team challenge: The chefs prepare a tasting menu of an appetizer and two main dishes for the Beverly Hills High School prom committee, who end up favoring the red team's dishes and gives them the first ever shutout win in Hell's Kitchen history.

The red team visits the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park for a day of fun, while the blue team has to clean the kitchens and help the prom committee put up decorations. Russell got frustrated during the punishment and lashed out against the three teenagers for bossing him around, as a result, James called him out for getting infuriated at them.

• Dinner service: The dinner service is for the prom. Vinny and Nona assist Ramsay with plating the food. The blue team gets their fish entrée added to the menu, since all of the red team's dishes are meat-based. In the red kitchen, Emily's crab cakes are too soggy, Melissa overcooks her filet mignons before they finish serving appetizers, and Emily's raw halibut sends Ramsay into a yelling fury. In the blue kitchen, Boris also has soggy crab cakes but Russell helps him out. After both teams finish service, Ramsay declares the blue team to be the winner. Sabrina was announced Best of the Worst (which Nona disagreed with).

Sabrina nominated Melissa and Emily for elimination. Ramsay then asked Nona who should go home & Nona insisted on Emily. Ramsay agrees and eliminates Emily for her lack of improvement. Melissa is moved to the Blue Team.

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

Prior to the team challenge, Ramsay moves Melissa to the blue team, and Trev to the red team.

• Team challenge: The chefs prepare entree salads, with the winning salad to be featured in Bon Appétit magazine. Sarah Tenaglia, the senior food editor is the guest judge. After a 2–2 tie, Rob's salad is judged to be the best.

The blue team win a lunch at the Getty Villa in Malibu, and Rob's salad is also added to the dinner service. Meanwhile, the red team has to eat a flower salad with bugs for lunch.

• Dinner service: Rob's salad proves difficult for both teams as it involves cooking scallops. The red team manages to make the salad, but Ramsay changes the orders to a rock shrimp salad when Melissa uses up all of the Blue Team's scallops. Sabrina stresses out when Ramsay and Trev ask for garnish times. Meanwhile, Boris overcooks his garnishes, causing Ramsay to throw him out of the kitchen. Although both teams finish the service with no more ejections, Ramsay declares no winner.

For the elimination round, each team nominates one member. The red team picks Sabrina and the blue team picks Boris. Ramsay noted that whilst they were good nominees, he also added Nona and Melissa to the pool. He eliminates Melissa for being a consistently terrible performer and wasting all the scallops.

• Team challenge: The chefs spin a modified roulette wheel with 18 letters of the alphabet.^{[note 2]} Each chef has to name an ingredient starting with the letter that the ball lands on, and they have 30 minutes to cook dishes using those ingredients.^{[note 3]} The red team wins the challenge, as Rob on the blue team fails to season his asparagus and yam properly.

The red team to go Las Vegas and enjoy a special appearance by Penn & Teller. The blue team has to prep potatoes for French fries.

• Dinner service: The theme for the service is family night. Special guests include Ramsay's family, and Jerry Springer and his family. Both teams serve fries on time, and although Vinny is scolded for making the risotto ahead of schedule and attempts to serve an old risotto to his wife. Rob struggles on the macaroni and cheese for Ramsay's son, Jack. Both teams complete the service and garner a diner satisfaction rating of 90% with both teams named winners.

Ramsay has each team nominate two members. The red team nominate Sabrina and Nona, while the blue team nominate Boris and Rob. Ramsay then reduces the pool to Nona and Rob. After each side makes their pleas, Ramsay asks Rob to remove his jacket, but surprises him with a clean jacket, and retains both chefs for a job well done.

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 chef visit local supermarket Bristol Farms, where they have 20 minutes and 60 dollars to buy ingredients for four dishes – one each of beef, pork, lamb and chicken. After they return, they have 45 minutes to cook their four dishes. Four judges, one for each type of meat, are brought in to assess how much they would pay for the dishes. The red team wins the challenge with a score of $110 to $101.

The red team enjoys a day of sail boating, along with a seaside dinner and mambo dancing. During their events, Trev brags about how he contributes to the red team's victories, although the women comment that he is the weakest member of the team. Meanwhile, the blue team has to fumigate both kitchens and prep them for the black tie dinner service.

• Dinner service – In celebration of Hell's Kitchen's 100th service, tonight's service is an invitation-only, black tie affair, whose guests at the chef's table include four former Hell's Kitchen winners: Rahman "Rock" Harper (Season 3), Christina Machamer (Season 4), Danny Veltri (Season 5) and Holli Ugalde (Season 7). Also in attendance are various dignitaries and celebrities such as some of the cast members of Glee. There was also a large cake, which the four enjoyed looking at as it had past photos on it. The red team near-flawlessly completes their service. Their only problems were Nona sending up an old risotto & Trev being a disaster all night & at one point all the women had to help him on garnish (Danny & Holli were amazed at his terrible performance and were commenting quietly to each other that he was going down), during service Trev is ordered by Ramsay to get some fresh air. The blue team had an atrocious service with constant problems. Boris had huge difficulty on appetizers (Which Christina & Rock enjoyed watching). Three of Vinny's lobsters are returned for being overcooked, and Rob forgot to cook a chicken putting them eight tables behind the red team then finally brings in to the pass, raw. Chef Ramsay kicks the blue team out and has the red team cover the service & deemed clear winners & praised for their excellent job (with the obvious exception of Trev.)

The blue team nominates Boris but has trouble deciding between Rob and Vinny, so Ramsay calls all three up. Ramsay sends Boris home due to his inconsistent performances but complements him for his big heart & encourages him to stay passionate. Ramsay has Trev step forward as the episode ends with "To be continued."

Ramsay does not provide a farewell comment regarding Boris, and he didn't receive his elimination sequence.

• Team change: Ramsay calls Trev up, and after warning him about his horrendous performance, reassigns him to the blue team, making the blue and red teams separate by gender again.

Scott brings a room service cart where the chefs enjoy its various offerings, but Ramsay notices they cannot tell a five-star appetizer from a fast-food one, so he presents the next challenge.

• Team challenge: The teams do a blindfold taste test of various food items. The winner will be the team that identifies the most items correctly. After three pairs, the blue team is ahead 4–3, but in the final pairing, Nona identifies three of the four pieces of food correctly compared to Trev's one, securing a win for the red team.

The reward is a shopping spree at a local boutique, and dining at XIV, a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Michael Mina. The men stay behind to remove recyclables from a garbage truck filled with trash, dine on American cheese sandwiches, and prep both kitchens for service.

• Dinner service: In the red kitchen, Jillian does well on the scallops, but Nona's delays on the beef entrees & arguing with Ramsay about it gets her booted from the kitchen. In the blue kitchen, Rob undercooks scallops and the halibut, but shapes up briefly after Ramsay's warning. His teammate Vinny is booted for sending up raw gnocchi and is immediately followed by Russell for serving raw chicken. Afterwards, Rob is booted for more undercooked fish. Trev completes his team's service with the help of Sous Chef Scott. Ramsay was dissatisfied with the result of the service but declares the red team the winners.

Afterwards, he calls Nona and tells her she should not have argued with him. For being "Best of the Worst", Trev nominates Rob and Russell for elimination consideration. Ramsay calls both up but sends Russell back in line, eliminating Rob for being a consistently poor performer & outstaying his welcome.

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 have to prepare three dishes: tagliatelle, salmon with lobster ragout, and poached chicken. However, there are special restrictions: only one chef from the team can be in the kitchen at a time; the chef has five minutes; and then has 15 seconds to brief the next chef. Ramsay rates the dishes and awards the blue team the win, since Jillian's salmon for the ragout was dropped.

The blue team goes on a shopping spree at Sur La Table for cooking equipment, followed by dinner at Mélisse, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Santa Monica, where they met its head chef, Josiah Citrin. The women must take in a delivery of food for Hell's Kitchen.

• Dinner service: The teams make up their own menus, and diners have a choice between the two. Although the diners order more from the red team, Citrin returns and orders from the blue team. In the red kitchen, Nona makes wild mushroom risotto, Gail constantly fails to make lobster capellini and is booted, and Sabrina makes New York steak. In the blue kitchen, Vinny struggles on Citrin's entree, which makes Ramsay furious. Russell makes ricotta ravioli, but Vinny botches the grilled lamb chops so Russell has to step in. Citrin disapproves of the entree which further angers Ramsay. Vinny serves raw instead of roasted sea bass. Although the service completes, Ramsay declares no winner.

For the nomination round, Ramsay announces that the red and blue teams will be no more. He has all members vote on who should leave. The women use all four votes on Trev, while Sabrina receives two (from Vinny & Trev), and Vinny receives one (from Russell). Ramsay calls down Trev and orders him to remove his jacket, however, he is given a black jacket. Jillian, then Nona, then Russell & then Sabrina are given black jackets to advance to the final 6. Gail and Vinny then plead their cases to stay. Gail is told to take off her jacket, but is given the final black jacket, which eliminates Vinny from the competition, feeling he had entered a seemingly completely unsalvageable downward spiral through out the last few services.

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."

• Individual challenge: Each chef has 30 minutes to create five servings of an amuse-bouche, a "one bite wonder", which will be judged by five notable chefs in the Los Angeles area – each judge will give a scores out of 10 for presentation and taste, for a total maximum score of 100. The final ranking is: Russell (100), Gail (87), Sabrina (70), Nona (67), Jillian (65) and Trev (62).

Russell gets to choose a chef contestant to join Ramsay for lunch at LA Market where they meet executive chef Kerry Simon. He picks Gail as she finished second. The others not only have to prep the kitchen, but also have to clean the dorms. Ramsay shows the six chefs a pile of cash that represents what they would earn as the head chef of LA Market if they win the overall competition.

• Dinner service: Nona is directed to present Steak Diane at tableside. Sabrina fries her risotto, and ends up with in a shouting match with Trev, who is scolded by Scott. Gail fails to properly cook the fish. Russell undercooks the beef Wellingtons. Ramsay shuts down the kitchen twice but is convinced to keep going by the black jackets. Some entrées make it to the diners, who approve of the dishes, but when Russell undercooks the ribeye, Ramsay throws everyone out and closes the kitchen.

Ramsay wants to have everyone remove their jackets except Nona but instead has the chefs nominate two among themselves. They choose Trev and Sabrina.^{[note 4]} During their pleas, Sabrina surprisingly asks that they both stay (considering her & Trev's hatred for each other) and that Gail should go. But Ramsay sends her home nonetheless, feeling she isn't mature enough to become head chef at LA Market.

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."

• Individual challenge: The five chefs prepare 80 portions of their signature dishes in one hour. They must do this in a food truck. The lunch diners at LA Market rank the dishes from best to worst. Russell's grilled octopus and aioli salad entrée is deemed the worst, while Gail's skirt steak with mangoes and pecans entrée is deemed the best.

For the challenge prize, Gail goes to José Eber's studio in Beverly Hills, where she gets a new hairdo, then to Hollywood, where Steven "Cojo" Cojocaru gives her a fashion makeover. The others have to clean the exterior of Hell's Kitchen and wash the food trucks.

• Dinner service: Ramsay assigns stations to each of the chefs. Among the diners in attendance are Cojo, Paris Hilton, and twelve Marines. Russell teaches Jillian how to cook fish and scallops since she has not worked the fish station before. Ramsay and Scott storm out when Trev presents a "cold in the middle" ribeye steak. The chefs try to fix things, managing to send out the appetizers, although Trev tries to re-fire the steaks. Ramsay and Scott return, at which Ramsay issues an ultimatum to kick out anyone who makes any more mistakes. He kicks out Gail for undercooking a salmon, and Jillian who submitted a raw egg dish. The remaining three complete the service.

The team nominates Gail and Trev for elimination, at which Nona mentions the re-fired meats. Ramsay notes that Jillian would've been an acceptable nominee as well. In the end, Ramsay eliminates Gail for her worsening performances over three straight services, remarking that he was disappointed in her, having expected her to go even further than she did.

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

• Individual challenge: Each chef has 30 minutes to cook an entrée using the ingredients provided. Ramsay tastes each dish and identifies its ingredients by taste alone. This leads to the actual "taste it, make it" challenge, where the chefs have 45 minutes to recreate a dish that Ramsay has himself made without knowing the ingredients. Jillian makes a good-tasting dish, but misses every ingredient except for the chicken stock. Trev correctly identifies the dish to have carrot purée rather than yam purée, but forgets to put that purée on the plate, and uses pork instead of veal. Russell's dish had bacon instead of pancetta, and seasoning was fairly close. Nona wins the challenge by matching everything except for the purée.

Nona receives a copy of Ramsay's cookbook, Recipes From a 3 Star Chef, and a set of cookware. She picks Russell and they spend a day at Hands On Boutique Spa, for massages. Trev and Jillian prep the kitchen and do laundry, including cleaning Ramsay's chef's whites. Prior to the service, Ramsay asks Jillian why she has been slipping up, but gives her some encouragement.

• Dinner service: Trev spends a long time on the beef Wellingtons, and when he trips, Ramsay puts him in "time out". Russell has some mishaps on scallops and halibut. Nona miscooks the risotto twice. Jillian cooks her garnishes perfectly. Eventually, they complete the service, which Ramsay called "not perfect, but bloody good".

The chefs nominate Trev and then after some repeat votes, choose Russell. Ramsay calls Trev down, but returns him to the line. He calls down Russell, but surprises him with a visit from his girlfriend and parents. The others receive similar visits from friends and family as Ramsay announces no elimination until next time.

Ramsay announces that because no contestant was eliminated last time, he will eliminate two contestants in this round.

• Individual challenge: The chefs have 45 minutes to cook a fusion cuisine dish, using a combination of ingredients from two countries, selected by drawing flags at random.^{[note 5]} Each dish is then judged by three chefs who are experts in fusion cuisine. While Trev, Nona, and Russell get mixed reviews, Jillian impresses the chefs with her Spanish/Thai paella dish.

For the challenge prize, Jillian joins her family and Chef Ramsay for lunch at Spago. The others have to clear out the dorm furnishings of their past chef contestants. Prior to the dinner service, Ramsay tells the chefs they will have a turn at handling the pass.

• Dinner service: Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Sasha Vujačić was a guest at the chef's table. As each chef takes a turn on the pass, Scott introduces some deliberate errors. Russell rejects Trev's scallops, and spots pecans in a salad instead of walnuts. Nona is not able to distinguish mashed potatoes from mashed celery root. Trev identifies Scott's trick of swapping halibut with seabass, but mixes the sequence of sending out entrees before appetizers on a table. Jillian shouts her orders like Ramsay but does not catch the difference between rib eye steak and New York strip steak. Ramsay yells at Trev to listen to Jillian. The chefs finish the service.

Ramsay asks the chefs to discuss amongst themselves who should be eliminated, but when they return, he immediately eliminates Trev, citing that Trev was the weakest of the remaining chefs but Ramsay praised him for his determination. The final three plead their cases. Ramsay selects Russell to advance to the final round, and then picks Nona to join him. He tells Jillian she can keep her jacket. Jillian was never nominated her entire time in Hell's Kitchen.

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."

Finalists Nona and Russell talk with the sous chefs on preparing a full dinner service where they will run their own kitchens. They are taken by helicopter to the top of the Marriott building for their final individual challenge.

• Individual challenge: Nona and Russell prepare five dishes for a taste challenge. Each round of dishes is judged by an executive or executive chef, including Kerry Simon from LA Market. Russell wins the challenge on the final dish.

Instead of prizes, Nona and Russell must draft a team using the eight chefs from the competition, and with Russell getting to choose first. Russell picks Jillian, Nona picks Gail. Russell's picks are Vinny, Sabrina and Rob. Nona picks are Melissa, Trev, and she is left with Boris. Ramsay's crew transform the dining area into two restaurants. Prior to opening, Ramsay gives the teams new chef's coats.

• Dinner service: Nona's menu includes baby beet salad, halibut, and a rib-eye steak with a red wine reduction. Russell's menu has scallops over cauliflower puree, goat cheese ravioli, and filet mignon. The appetizers are served at about the same time. Russell's team moves ahead on the entrées when Nona's team is bogged down by Boris's work on the fish station. Melissa has trouble with the meat, but cooks it correctly. Russell replaces Sabrina with Vinny on the meat station, and swaps Rob with Jillian on the appetizer station after some arguing. Russell also tries to serve two tables at once, which backfires when the entrées are returned for being undercooked & Chef Ramsay tells him he can't do that at LA Market. However, both teams successfully finish their services.

Ramsay determines the winner based on the diners' comments. Each finalist stands in front of a door; the one that opens designates the winner. Nona's door opens to reveal her husband and infant son, making her the season winner of Hell's Kitchen. Russell takes his defeat ungraciously, blames his teammates for his loss claiming that they helped him lose. As well as swearing to blacklist all four of them.