Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 7)

Sixteen new chefs were surprised by members of the press, where Chef Ramsay promised the first dinner service would be completed.

Signature dishes/team challenge: Teams were divided into men (blue) and women (red) and each chef cooked a signature dish to be judged by Ramsay. Maria scored over Salvatore, Benjamin scored over Holli, neither Jamie or Scott scored a point, both Siobhan and Mikey scored points, Jay scored over Stacey, Jason scored over Fran and Autumn scored over Ed. Lastly, neither Nilka or Andrew scored a point, giving the blue team a 4-3 win.

Ramsay then gave the contestants video demonstrations on how to cook various dishes, with a fire alarm siren preceding each video.

Reward/punishment: The men were treated to breakfast in bed, with the women being forced to cook and serve it to them.

Service: Jay and Nilka served tableside chicken caesar salad. In the red kitchen, Stacey struggled on scallops, while Fran served undercooked potatoes and mistook crab for lobster. Jamie served cold steak and Maria laughed after Ramsay reprimanded it. Ramsay kicked Fran, Jamie and Maria out, and brought Nilka into the kitchen. In the blue kitchen, Salvatore burned shallots twice, Mikey served raw halibut twice, getting him kicked out, and Benjamin struggled on risotto. Salvatore and Benjamin were kicked out after not communicating to Ramsay, and Jay was brought into the kitchen. Stacey was then kicked out for still struggling on fish. Ramsay then merged the teams together, and under the leadership of Ed, service was completed. Ramsay named the blue team winners and the red team were told to nominate two chefs for elimination.

Elimination: Stacey and Fran were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Stacey for her lackadaisical attitude and lack of experience.

Team Challenge: The contestants were divided into pairs; each pair had to cook four egg dishes in four different styles (soft-boiled, poached, scrambled and sunny side up) in five minutes. Since the red team had one less chef, Siobhan worked on her own, but accepted help from Autumn, which resulted in most of her eggs being disqualified by Ramsay. The men won 11-10.

Reward/punishment: The men were treated to helicopter tour of Los Angeles and a champagne lunch with Ramsay and Jean-Philippe on top of a skyscraper, while the women took in deliveries of tuna and prepped it for service.

Service: Scott and Fran served table-side tuna tartar, but Fran struggled. In the blue kitchen, Mikey consistently undercooked risotto and Jason poorly cooked chicken. In the red kitchen, Autumn put too much salt in water pots and was scolded for taking over appetizers from Siobhan. The women finished appetizers well before the men, but Holli, Jamie and Nilka suffered communication problems and Jamie served raw fish.

Andrew's exit: After Andrew added poor mash potato to a fresh pot and argued with Ramsay, Ramsay threw him out. Andrew then began to leave the building, thinking he was thrown out of the competition, and though Jean-Philippe tried to talk Andrew back into the contest, saying there were many people who would want to be in his shoes, Andrew took off his shoes and walked out, making him the second chef to quit mid-service. Andrew received no comment, and though he walked out wearing his jacket, his jacket and burnt photo was seen when Ramsay hanged up Mikey's jacket.

Despite both teams finishing service with no further ejections, Ramsay named both teams losers and had both teams nominate one chef for elimination.

Elimination: Autumn and Jason were nominated. After questioning, Ramsay sent Autumn back in line and nominated Jamie, but spared Jamie and Jason, eliminating Mikey for his second terrible service in a row.

Team challenge: In a Team Communication challenge, teams served lunch to members of the University of Southern California Marching Band and Cheerleaders; the team that finished first won. The women narrowly won their first challenge in a close finish.

Reward/punishment: The women were rewarded with a trip to the beach, playing soccer with Ramsay and his family, while the men had to clean a portion of the Los Angeles River.

Service: Before service, Fran burned her hand carrying a pot of hot water, but refused to see a medic. Holli and Salvatore were chosen as maitre d' assistants, but Salvatore struggled and contemplated quitting the competition. In the blue kitchen, Scott served poor potatoes, but the men did well on entrees thanks to Benjamin's strong performance on meat. Jason struggled on garnish, but recovered. In the red kitchen, Fran struggled on meat and Ramsay eventually forced her to see a medic, while Jamie burned carrots and mashed potatoes. Siobhan tried to help Jamie, but lost track of her work on fish in the process; both teams completed service. Ramsay named the men the winners, praising Benjamin.

Elimination: Fran and Jamie were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Jamie for her lack of leadership.

After the elimination, Ramsay pulled Salvatore aside and encouraged him to fightback after his poor performance.

Team challenge: Each chef rolled a die with letters on each side of it, then hving ten seconds to call out an ingredient starting with that letter.^{[note 1]} The teams then had 30 minutes to create a dish using those ingredients. The men made a pan roasted halibut with a bacon, pea and crab ragu, a salsify puree and a salad of crab and endive, while the women made a mango glazed pan seared duck with ham, pureed turnips and beets. The men won after the women's duck was cooked with too much "fat" left on.

Reward/punishment: The men were told they were going skydiving, but discovered they were going to be in a vertical wind tunnel for the day. The women cleaned the entryway to Hell's Kitchen and prepped both kitchens for the dinner service.

Service: Service included numerous celebrities as well as special guests on the chef's tables. The men's special guests were Debi Mazar and her husband, while the women's special guests were Kevin Frazier and his wife. In the blue kitchen, Salvatore had a strong performance on fish, but Scott struggled on meat and Ed served hard mashed potatoes. In the red kitchen, Nilka had a strong performance on meat, but Siobhan mistook lobster for crab twice and Autumn dropped a piece of salmon onto one of her burners. However, Ramsay considered the service to be an improvement and named both teams winners, though he had each team nominate one chef for elimination. Nilka and Salvatore were named Best of the Best on their teams and were asked to choose the nominees.

Team change: Nilka nominated Autumn, while Salvatore nominated Scott. No chef was eliminated, but Ramsay transferred Autumn to the blue team and Scott to the red team.

Team challenge: Each chef brought a pig in a pen to get an ingredient listed on the pigs collar, totaling 3 pork items and 3 side items. The teams then had to create three dishes, each with pork as the primary ingredient and one further ingredient. The red team got ham hock, tenderloin, blood sausage, apple, prunes and sweet potato, while the blue team got bacon, pork chop, loin chop, cabbage, pinto beans and bok choi. The blue team's roasted pork loin scored over the red team's blood sausage and prunes, but the red team's fennel-encrusted pork tenderloin scored over the blue team's honey-glazed bacon. Finally, the blue team's pork chop with pinto beans scored over the red team's sweet potato soup as the soup used hamhock as a garnish, when it was supposed to be the main ingredient.

Reward/punishment: The blue team were rewarded with a trip to Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa, while the red team had to give the pigs in the pen a bath.

Service: The theme of service was Barbecue Night. The service had two servings, with the teams taking turns cooking and working in the dining room. Fran had a strong performance on appetizers, but Maria served raw crab, Scott served burnt chicken and Siobhan served undercooked burgers. The blue team did well in the dining room, their only problem being Salvatore's poor handwriting. When the teams swapped, Jay was strong on appetizers, but Salvatore struggled on garnish, Autumn undercooked ribs and Ramsay scolded Jason after he tried to save time by frying chicken and French fries in the same basket. The red team were slow to get orders to the kitchen; Maria took an order from a table Holli had already taken the order for and wrote down orders incorrectly. Ramsay named the blue team winners for their performance in the dining room; Fran was named best of the worst.

Elimination: Fran nominated Maria and Nilka; Ramsay also nominated Scott. Ramsay eliminated Maria for being the worst performer in both the kitchen and dining room.

Team Challenge: The challenge was to make meals out of five mother sauces (Hollandaise, Béchamel, Demi-glace, Velouté and Tomato) while not reusing any of the other twenty ingredients given to them. The blue team worked well together, but on the red team, Nilka took most of the ingredients without consulting her teammates. To judge the dishes, Ramsay called on the help of his wife and mother. Fran scored over Salvatore on tomato sauce, neither Jay or Siobhan earned a point for their hollandaise dishes, Ed scored over Holli on velouté, Nilka scored over Jason on demi-glace and Benjamin scored over Scott on béchamel, leaving the score at 2-2 tie. Ultimately, Ramsay gave the blue team the win, judging Jason's dish to be the best of the dishes not awarded a point.

Reward/punishment: The blue team were rewarded with a trip to Ye Olde King's Head British Pub in Santa Monica, California and each chef received a set of premium pots and pans. The red team cleaned and preped both kitchens.

Service: Hell's Kitchen hosted family night, with a kids menu included. The blue team had a strong performance, their only problem being Salvatore added fresh rice to risotto when he forgot to cook an extra portion, causing Ramsay to berate him. Under Benjamin's strong leadership, the blue team completed service. The red team continued to struggle, Nilka undercooked risotto and nobody on the team knew who was meant to be cooking spaghetti. Fran overcooked scallops and Scott lost track of his orders, serving raw wellingtons. After Scott served burnt chicken and beef, Ramsay kicked the red team out while he, Sous Chef Scott and Sous Chef Andi completed their service. Ramsay named the blue team clear winners.

Elimination: Scott and Fran and nominated, but Fran thought Siobhan should have been nominated, so Ramsay called all three forward. Ramsay eliminated Scott for his arrogance and failing to live up to his executive chef position.

Team change: Ramsay then transferred Benjamin to the red team.

Team challenge: Both teams cooked meals for a 50th wedding anniversary, remaking three dishes that the wedding couple had at their wedding reception 50 years ago. The challenge ended in a tie, but Ramsay awarded the win to the red team.

Reward/punishment: The red team were rewarded with dinner at a 50's style diner and got to serve the guests of honor during service, while the blue team had to decorate the dining room for the 50th anniversary reception being held the following day.

Service: Ed and Nilka served Steak Diane tableside. In the blue kitchen, the cake made almost fell over but was saved in time and Salvatore struggled on garnish as he did not communicate with his teammates. In the red kitchen, Benjamin served raw and then overcooked crab cakes, Holli served overcooked duck and raw chicken and Fran struggled on garnish. Both kitchens completed service; Ramsay named the blue team winners.

Elimination: Fran and Siobhan were nominated. However, Ramsay spared them due to the red team's improved performance and eliminated Salvatore for consistently poor performances, making him the second chef to leave the competition despite being on the winning team.

Team Challenge: Each chef made a gourmet sandwich in 30 minutes. Because the red team had one more chef, they had to choose one sandwich to sit out, choosing Siobhan. The score ended in a 3-3 tie, so Ramsay used Siobhan's sandwich to declare a winner. Ramsay awarded the blue team the win, preferring Siobhan's sandwich over Fran's.

Reward/punishment: The blue team was rewarded with wine tasting in a private jet with Ramsay, while the red team had to shuck peanuts and grind them into peanut butter. Ed and Autumn got drunk from the reward, giving them hangovers before service.

Service: In the red kitchen, Fran struggled on risotto, Siobhan served under-seasoned scallops and argued with Ramsay, who forced her out to eat them, forcing Benjamin to take over, and Nilka served raw chicken. In the blue kitchen, Jason and Jay struggled to communicate, serving overcooked scallops and under-salted risotto. Autumn served salty mashed potatoes and Ed struggled on meat. After Ed served raw duck, Ramsay kicked the blue team out. Fran continued to struggle on appetizers, leading Ramsay to kick the red team out as well. An angry Ramsay declared no winner.

Elimination: Fran, Siobhan, Autumn and Ed were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Siobhan for her poor performances and allowing Benjamin to take over her station, but praised her for her hard work.

Team challenge: The contestants conducted a blind taste test to see which foods they can correctly identify. The blue team won 4-3, with Jay being the only contestant to correctly identify two ingredients.

Reward/punishment: The blue team were rewarded with VIP passes to Sea World to swim with dolphins and spend the day at the park, while the red team took in several deliveries of food for Gordon Ramsay at The London, West Hollywood.

Service: Each team prepared their own menu consisting of four appetizers, entrees and desserts, with the customers deciding which menu to order from. Ramsay was not impressed with either menu, branding the red team's menu uninspiring, apart from Holli's desserts, which he complimented, and the blue team's menu terrible. The blue team decided to revamp their menu at the last minute, but the red team ignored Ramsay's suggestions. As a result, the orders for the blue team's menu vastly outnumbered those of the red team. Both kitchens saw poor performances from Autumn and Fran on meat, and this eventually led to Jay kicking Autumn off and putting her on desserts instead. While the blue team had clearly been the better of the two teams, Ramsay refused to name them winners since they originally came up with a poor menu. Ramsay had both teams nominate one chef for elimination.

Elimination: Autumn and Fran were nominated. Ramsay had both Autumn and Fran remove their jackets; Ramsay eliminated Fran, feeling that she had gone as far as she could, though Ramsay commended her for her determination.

Team change: Ramsay then reassigned Autumn to the red team.

Team Challenge: The contestants each cooked a lobster dish with a 10-pound lobster, with three Michelin-starred chefs judging. As the red team had an extra chef, they chose Nilka's dish to sit out. Only one chef from each team earned a point: Holli and Jason. Ramsay deemed Holli's dish the best dish, giving the red team the win.

Reward/punishment: The red team were treated to sampling caviar at a Petrossian Paris, and were each given $1000 for a shopping spree. The blue team cleaned the dorms and prepped both kitchens for service. However, when the red team returned, the blue team had still not prepped their own kitchen. Ramsay then declared that both teams would operate in the red kitchen and that there would be a two and a half hour time limit for service to serve customers who would then be attending the theatre.

Service: For winning the challenge, Holli served caviar tableside. Jason had a strong performance on meat, but Nilka undercooked fish and suffered an emotional meltdown, causing Jay to help her, while Ed caused multiple pans to catch on fire on garnish.

Automatic elimination: After numerous mistakes on fish, Ramsay eliminated Nilka during service. Nilka then returned and pleaded to be given a second chance, refusing to leave until Ramsay forced Benjamin to help him get her out. The two teams rallied and finished the service with fifteen minutes to spare. Ramsay then met with Nilka at the back entrance after service and, despite telling her she was not ready for the head chef's job, calmly urged her not to give up on her dream before taking her jacket and sending her home via taxi. Nilka received the full elimination sequence at the end of the episode.

Elimination: Despite both teams being named joint-winners, both teams were told to nominate one chef for elimination. Though Autumn and Ed were nominated, Ramsay retained each chef and gave each chef a black jacket.

Individual challenge: In an individual challenge, the chefs had thirty minutes to create a great-tasting dish and make it look aesthetically pleasing. The dishes were judged on presentation by culinary students. From worst to best, the dishes were Holli, Jay, Jason and Autumn. Benjamin and Ed's dishes were singled out as the top two. The dishes were then judged by Tanya Steel of Epicurious on taste, who named Benjamin the winner.

Reward/punishment: Benjamin received a makeover and photo shoot with Epicurious, as well as his dish being featured at the next dinner service, while the others cleaned the restaurant.

Service: Whoopi Goldberg was a special guest at the chef's table. Ed frequently undercooked and overcooked fish and Benjamin's lack of communication caused Jay to give Ramsay inaccurate times. The team as a whole struggled to remember orders, and after Ed overcooked scallops and Benjamin brought up meat entrées for the wrong table, Ramsay kicked them out while the remaining four completed service.

Elimination: It appeared that Benjamin and Ed would be the two nominees, however, when Ramsay told the team to decide on two nominees based on "overall" performance, Autumn and Ed were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Ed for his disintegrating performances and unconvincing final plea.

Individual challenge: The contestants went to a local supermarket, where they spent no more than $10 in ten minutes on ingredients for their dish, which they had 30 minutes to cook. Each dish was judged by a panel of three gourmands, who then come up with a price they would pay if they ordered this dish; the contestant with the largest average price won. Jason ($16.00) ended up in last for buying prepared ravioli. Ben's ratatouille dish ($25.00) was fourth, Autumn's veal dish ($27.33) was third, Jay's lamb dish ($28.66) was second and Holli finished in first with her tuna dish ($29.66).

Reward/punishment: Holli chose Jay, as he came second, to join her and Jean-Philippe at The Peninsula Beverly Hills for a poolside lunch, followed by a $1000 kitchen equipment shopping spree. Holli's dish was also featured in that night's service. The others did laundry and dined on Spam sandwiches.

Service: Ramsay had the contestants switch stations every several minutes to test their communication skills, in which each chef told the contestant replacing them what to do before moving on. The service was very rocky; Jay struggled on meat, Benjamin served rejected scallops and Jason served overcooked halibut. At one point, Ramsay stepped out, leaving Sous Chef Scott in charge. Benjamin attempted to read orders at the pass, only to be berated by Scott. The team completed service, but Ramsay was far from impressed and had the team nominate two for elimination.

Elimination: Jason and Benjamin were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Jason for his lack of leadership compared to the other chefs, but gave him encouragement.

Individual challenge: Ramsay showed the chefs how to cook monk fish before having them verbally teach a novice how to duplicate Ramsay's dish. Jay won the challenge.

Reawrd/punishment: Jay chose Holli to come with him on an aerial tour of Los Angeles on the Goodyear Blimp, the Spirit of America. Benjamin and Autumn did maintenance and cleaning work.

Service: For the first time in Hell's Kitchen history, the contestants chose which station they would work. Holli undercooked John Dory, Jay served bland risotto, Autumn undercooked scallops and Benjamin caused a beef wellington to split and had a lack of communication. However, all four chefs finished service, with Jay being named Best of the Best.

Elimination: Jay nominated Autumn and Benjamin.^{[note 2]} Ramsay called Autumn and then Benjamin forward, only to order them back in line. After a great service, Ramsay decided it was impossible to send anyone home. Instead, he invited each of the contestant's family members to Hell's Kitchen for a brief visit (Benjamin's wife and daughter, Holli's son and best friend, Jay's mom and step-dad and Autumn's best friend and boyfriend).

Individual challenge: Ramsay presented a dish and had the chefs taste it. In a "taste it, make it" challenge, they then had to recreate the dish in 45 minutes without knowing the ingredients. Holli won the challenge.

Reward/punishment: Holli spent a trip with her family on a yacht, while the others cleaned the dorms. Benjamin complained of lower back and shoulder pains and initially decided to leave the competition, but stayed after talking to Ramsay.

Service: Ramsay gave each of the chefs an opportunity to run the hot pass. During the chefs' time on the pass, they had to complete quality control checks, including sous-chef Scott sabotaging the food and Jean-Philippe leaving out an entree from an order. Jay had a very strong start and passed both of his quality control tests comfortably. Holli had a nervous start and failed the first of her quality control tests, but recovered. Benjamin, despite failing his first quality check by not noticing he had been given venison wellingtons rather than lamb wellingtons, proved to be a strong leader. Autumn had a shaky start by failing to notice she had been given the wrong sauce and then angered Ramsay by not taking the mistake seriously. She then became excessively nitpicky and started sending back dishes which the other chefs and even Scott thought were cooked correctly.

Individual challenge: Holli and Jay travelled by limo to The London West Hollywood where, to a crowd of fans, they had one hour to cook five dishes: an Amuse-bouche, a cold appetizer, a hot appetizer, a fish course and a meat course, to be judged by five chefs from Ramsay's restaurants in England. Jay won 3-2.

Jay was granted first pick in drafting a team using the six chefs eliminated prior to the final.^{[note 3]} Jay picked Benjamin, Jason and Fran, while Holli picked Autumn and Nilka, and was left with Siobhan.

Service: Among the customers were Holli and Jay's relatives and friends. In the red kitchen, Nilka and Siobhan struggled on appetizers, and in the blue kitchen, Jason had trouble on meat, Fran struggled on scallops and Ramsay noted that Benjamin appeared to be leading more than Jay, warning Jay to step up and run the kitchen. Both teams eventually rallied and finished service.

Winner: The winner was then determined by Ramsay, based on comments of the diners and his own observations. Holli and Jay stood in front of a closed door; Holli's door opened, making her the seventh winner of Hell's Kitchen; Jay took his defeat graciously.