Hell's Kitchen (American season 17)

Ramsay called up 16 chefs from previous seasons and invited them back to compete again in Hell's Kitchen. When they arrived, they recalled the friendships and rivalries they formed throughout their previous appearances. While some were happy to reunite with their old teammates, others were not, such as Robyn and Dana towards Barbie, Nick towards Josh, and especially Jennifer towards Elise. After pleasantries, Ramsay introduced the chefs and Sous-Chefs Christina and Jocky to a live audience. He then revealed that the winner of this season would become the head chef of the new Hell's Kitchen restaurant in Las Vegas.

Team challenge/signature dish: Unlike previous seasons, Ramsay gave each chef different ingredients which they will use to create new signature dishes in 45 minutes, and go head to head on main proteins. Each dish will be scored on a one to five scale. Ashley and Jared each scored four on duck, while on the chicken dishes, Barbie beat Ben three to two. Both Giovanni and Jennifer score three on lamb while on the scallop dishes, Michelle scored four over Nick's three. On the pork chop dishes, Milly beat Manda four to three. On the filet dishes, Dana beat Josh four to two, but both Van and Elise scored a perfect five on lobster. Finally, on the last round, with the score 23-26 in favor of the women, Robyn and Benjamin were up with their salmon dishes. Benjamin scored a perfect five, while Robyn scored a one, with her dish being deemed "disgusting" by Ramsay. The men triumphed 28–27.

Reward/punishment: The men went to Downtown Los Angeles to slide down the Skyslide at the U.S. Bank Tower and to celebrate their win with Marino. Afterwards, they had dinner with Ramsay at WP24 where they had their food cooked and served by Wolfgang Puck. The women, meanwhile, were forced to break down the bleachers and remove the red carpet and confetti outside. While they were angry at Robyn for costing them the challenge and puzzled at her demonstration of a fortune-telling rock (Elise even suggested that the rock could have told Robyn when to cook the salmon), they were even more annoyed at Elise for not helping out with the bleachers outside of Hell's Kitchen.

Challenge – Part 2: Continuing from the last episode, Ramsay announced that this year Hell's Kitchen would offer a special bar menu. The chefs were given 40 minutes to create a bar menu item; the winner of the challenge would have their dish featured on the menu throughout the whole season, and earned immunity from tonight's elimination. The sous-chefs then sampled each dish and selected their top four from each team, from which Ramsay picked the top four. The Red Team was represented by Dana, Ashley, Elise, and Michelle, while the Blue Team was represented by Milly, Jared, Van, and Nick. The final four were Michelle, Milly, Elise, and Van. Ultimately, Milly's seafood poutine beat out the other three dishes, and he won immunity. Michelle, who came second, expressed disappointment at this, as she felt her dish had been more adventurous, whereas Milly's had been something he had made numerous times before.

After the challenge, Ben started to feel unwell, and admitted to his teammates that he had recently been diagnosed with diabetes. With 30 minutes to dinner service, he went to see the medic, who took his vitals as he continued to worry about his diabetes and at this point had to decide if he were to take the chance or if he was "out". Ultimately, he decided to stay.

Dinner Service: A Hell's Kitchen first featured chef's tables on opening night, with former American Idol winner Jordin Sparks sitting in the red kitchen and Tony Award-winning actor Joe Mantegna sitting in the blue. Actor French Stewart, and singers Keith Sweat and Kirstin Maldonado also attended service. Dana and Milly served a special shrimp and pasta appetizer tableside. In the blue kitchen, Josh served perfect cold appetizers but took too long. Ben and Jared served up a raw salmon; the former suddenly became unbalanced, forcing the latter to catch him before he fell. After that, however, the men had an almost perfect service, thanks to Nick and Giovanni strong performance on the meat station. In the red kitchen, Ashley served a soupy carbonara, but recovered. Robyn delivered perfect lobster wellingtons; however, Elise served multiple raw and overcooked New York strips, and Ramsay ordered the whole team to apologize to the customers, after which Giovanni was asked to help the women so they could finally deliver entrees to the dining room.^[4] However, Manda sent up a raw salmon for the chef's table, followed by one with burnt skin, leading Ramsay to kick the women out of the kitchen with the men finishing opening night on a strong note.

Elimination: Manda was quickly agreed on as the women's first nominee, and despite Elise and Barbie attempting to nominate Robyn for not doing enough to help Elise on the meat station, Elise herself was named as the second nominee. Ramsay polled the rest of the women whom they would send home, but to the shock of everyone, eliminated Ben, deeming him not physically fit enough to handle the stress and demands of the competition. This makes Ben the eighth chef to be eliminated despite being on the winning team.

Ramsay's comment: "Big Ben? More like big liability. He clearly wasn't going to be able to keep up, so I had to let him down."

After elimination – continued: Robyn and Elise have a heated argument over service which is only stopped when Manda drags the former to another room. Prior to the next challenge, Josh threw up after eating vitamins and a chimichanga for breakfast. Ramsay checked on him to see if he was alright and he rejoined his group before the team challenge began.

Team Challenge: Before the next challenge began, Ramsay demonstrated the effectiveness of a chef's hands by having a kid over to play speed stacking. Michelle and Jared then competed in a cup stacking competition, with the former easily winning in just 18 seconds, and the latter taking over a minute longer. The women gained a 30-second head start for the real challenge, which saw the teams recreate a four-tiered seafood tower as the chefs worked in pairs to replicate parts of the tower to Ramsay's approval. The men were short a member, so Benjamin went twice. Despite the disadvantage, the men won the challenge by a matter of seconds, with the women losing their advantage after Michelle and Elise had major problems putting together the second part of the tower.

Reward/punishment: The men were sent to Ocean Club in Malibu where they ate a seafood lunch with Jocky and Marino. They later played soccer with U.S. soccer Olympians Alyssa Naeher and Julie Ertz. The women in the meantime were forced to take in deliveries of seafood, prep it for service, and served a disgusting fish dish for lunch, causing Barbie to vomit over Dana and Robyn's graphic descriptions of the dish. Elise tried to weasel out of the dish, but Sous-Chef Christina forced her to eat it. As they were unloading the deliveries, Barbie annoyed her teammates by telling them what to do.

Dinner Service: Philadelphia Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, professional golfer Jon Rahm, and the aforementioned Alyssa Naeher and Julie Johnston were guests in the dining room. Michelle and Giovanni served a seafood appetizer tableside. The men had another near perfect service thanks to Milly's leadership, save for Josh briefly getting confused on orders until Jared helped him out, and Van momentarily delaying a ticket by not having the salmon quite ready in time. While the women had a good start on appetizers, they soon fell apart on entrees. Despite Barbie cooking perfect meat, she openly argued with Robyn, who sent up raw salmon. Ashley was kicked out of the kitchen temporarily for being distracted by her watch, and Manda again struggled on garnishes. After Robyn served an overcooked piece of salmon and Barbie ruined three pieces of meat, Ramsay gave them one more chance, only for Ashley to overcook a lobster wellington while Robyn undercooked halibut. An angry Ramsay threw the women out for the second time in a row and had the men finish their service.

Elimination: Ramsay called the women's performance even worse than the previous one, and ordered them to nominate two people. Barbie and Robyn were agreed on as the nominees, but when Ramsay asked the former who the nominees were, she stated that the team also considered Ashley and Manda due both of them struggling on their stations. Ramsay agreed and brought up all four, ultimately eliminating Ashley for not doing much in service and lacking fight back.

Team Challenge: Ramsay brought the teams together for a game of chance. The chefs took turns naming ingredients that started with a given letter, until one team could not think of any and lost the round. The team that won each round got to keep one of the named ingredients for themselves as well as assign one to their opponents. Each team member had to cook an individual dish using all of the ingredients on their team's list. The women held on to earn their first challenge victory, 26-25.

Reward/punishment: The women flew in a private plane to Santa Barbara to stay at the Belmond El Encanto resort. The men dealt with a delivery of potatoes and then sifted through garbage to find what was recyclable. During the punishment, Josh's teammates became infuriated with him after he revealed he was a celebrity caterer who only worked three hours a day.

Dinner Service: Former Playboy Playmate Shannon Tweed and MMA fighter Paige VanZant sat at the red and blue chef's tables respectively. Both kitchens also had to serve together a twelve-top for a guest celebrating his 30th birthday. Throughout the service, the Red Team had an almost flawless performance, as Michelle and Jennifer both managed to properly coordinate the kitchens so the twelve-top could be served. Their only real problems were Michelle adding too much garlic to a risotto and Barbie serving cold mashed potatoes and accidentally grabbing Ramsay's cooking cloth. In the blue kitchen, Josh held up the team on appetizers and then twice sent up far too many portions of risotto, with Ramsay making him eat the leftovers with the VIP guests. He was also berated for using a stopwatch to calculate the risottos' cooking times. Giovanni sent up a burnt pork alongside a properly cooked one, and Benjamin and Jared served a raw duck for the twelve-top, forcing Jennifer to step in. Benjamin's cold beef wellington got the Blue Team thrown out as the Red Team finished their service.

Team Challenge: Outside Hell's Kitchen, Ramsay explained the practice of cooking fish over wood planks, which would be the chefs' their next challenge. Each team was split into three pairs of two and with one chef cooking alone, then given 45 minutes to prepare their dishes, cooked over a fire pit with a plank of cedar or hickory wood. Ramsay was then joined by guest chef Ben Ford (actor Harrison Ford's son). During the challenge, Josh earned his new teammates' ire by smothering the Red Team's fire with cold coals. Robyn and Nick beat Michelle and Jennifer on cod, but both teams scored on wahoo and barramundi, with Van earning praise for his niçoise salad, prepared with eggs boiled in the fire pit. After Elise beat Milly and Giovanni on salmon, the challenge ended in a tie, three to three. Ramsay and Ford picked Robyn and Nick's chimichurri-basted cod and smoked orange and fennel salad over Elise's cedar-grilled salmon and mustard aioli, deeming it the dish of the day, giving the Blue Team the win.

Reward/punishment: The Blue Team headed down to Apex Farm in the California foothills and enjoyed a horseback ride. The Red Team also traveled to Apex Farm, but were forced to clean horse manure in a pen. Manda and Josh argued throughout the punishment as she was frustrated with his condescending attitude, while the rest of the team felt that he cost them the challenge by putting out their fire.

Dinner Service: Actor Shaun Brown was in attendance for this service. Van and Barbie served a special tableside appetizer of smoked salmon rillette. In the blue kitchen, Benjamin mistakenly put oil on a non-stick pan to cook his scallops but recovered, though he irritated his teammates by constantly responding "oui chef" to Ramsay. Ironically, the latter didn't seem to mind. Robyn accidentally dropped an order of chicken and served a raw beef wellington, and Milly had trouble communicating with Nick on garnish. Otherwise, the Blue Team had a decent service. In the red kitchen, Josh was slow on the fish and chips for the bar menu, leading Manda to repeatedly take over the garnish station. He later brought salty spinach and liquid mashed potatoes to the pass, and got kicked out for handling cold garnish with his bare hands when the protein it was supposed to go with was already at the pass. The Red Team performed much better after this, though Elise earned some of the other chefs' ire by standing around and doing nothing.

Automatic elimination: After a while, Josh decided to come back to the kitchen and fight his way back in. Ramsay eliminated him immediately for his poor performances, stubbornness, and failure to improve upon his past mistakes, sending him out through the front door. Josh became the eighth person to be eliminated during service, the second after switching teams (after Lacey in Season 5), and the second who was asked to use the front door (after Gabriel in Season 12). Ramsay didn't give an explanation for Josh's elimination, and his jacket was not hung up, nor was his picture burned.

After Josh's elimination and the post-service meeting, Ramsay told all the chefs to get some rest, as big changes were coming. Everyone was relieved that Josh was gone, with Milly specifically stating that every remaining contestant hated Josh and that he was, skill wise, not at any of their levels. They all sat around drinking and talking about each other's sex lives, making fun of who they thought was "vanilla," and who might be a freak in the bed. Suddenly, Van fell into the hot tub.

Team Challenge: For their next challenge, the teams visited DeSano Pizzeria & Bakery. Selected chefs were asked to pick an opponent to cook against, and would then spin a wheel to determine the country whose cuisine their pizzas would be inspired by. They were given 30 minutes to prepare and bake their pizzas, which would be judged by Ramsay, Marino, and chef Steve Samson. Giovanni was the only chef not picked, so he chose France, which was spun by Michelle, who picked Benjamin as her opponent. Barbie beat Robyn on India, Milly beat Jennifer on Morocco, Manda beat Van on Vietnam, and Nick beat Dana on Greece. Neither Elise nor Jared managed to score a point on South Korea, as Elise's pizza was badly misshapen and Jared tried to pass off raw cabbage as kimchi. In the last round, Michelle scored the winning point for the Red Team by beating Giovanni on France; although the flavors were good, the latter's pizza was completely burnt on the bottom, which the Blue Team was unaware of when they dropped Benjamin's pizza in favor of Giovanni's.

Reward/punishment: The Red Team toured Hollywood on a double-decker bus on their way to the Magic Castle where they were entertained by magician Joel Ward. The Blue Team was forced to prepare the entire dining room for the upcoming Italian Night in Hell's Kitchen.

Dinner Service: Actress Melissa Fumero dined at the red chef's table; the blue chef's table featured a pair of VIP guests: 2012 Miss Universe Olivia Culpo and Victoria's Secret model Devon Windsor. A tableside Italian seafood entrée was served by Nick and Elise. In the blue kitchen, Robyn forgot to drop her scallops due to a miscommunication with Benjamin. Van and Giovanni sent up raw lamb, and Ramsay berated the former in the pantry for laughing at his criticism of the latter falling behind on the lamb. Jared got overwhelmed on garnish and gave inconsistent timings before suddenly calling for a medic, claiming he had a cut on his finger, but Ramsay couldn't find one. After Robyn and Giovanni served two portions of overcooked salmon and veal respectively, Ramsay called the medic over to confirm that Jared didn't cut himself, and kicked the Blue Team out of the kitchen. Conversely, in the red kitchen, Manda needed help tasting her carbonara for doneness due to having celiac disease. Michelle twice misinformed her into sending up raw pasta. After Elise took over tasting duty, Manda finally delivered an acceptable carbonara. Michelle had a strong performance on the meat station with the exception of slipping while trying to cook lamb, which Manda considered to be karma for her pasta error. Elise also annoyed her teammates by trying to offer unwanted help on their stations. The Red Team nevertheless completed a strong, solid service.

Elimination: After a long, heated debate, the Blue Team nominated Jared for his "medical emergency" that disrupted the garnish station, and Robyn for struggling on fish. The former continued to insist that he truly had cut himself, while the latter pled to be sent back to the Red Team. Ramsay eliminated Jared for faking the injury and worsening performances; Jared reiterated in his exit interview that he did cut himself.

Team Challenge: For their next challenge, both teams were given 25 minutes to cook six of the most popular entrees in Hell's Kitchen: beef wellington, salmon, halibut, rack of lamb, duck breast, and double-boned pork chop. However, every three minutes, each team had to kick out one member, which ultimately left Nick and Michelle as the only ones left in their respective kitchens until everyone was called back in during the last three minutes. In the end, the Blue Team won, five to three, because the Red Team served raw lamb and pork.

Reward/punishment: The Blue Team went to a world-class rock climbing gym and ate at the Bourbon Steak at the Americana at Brand and were joined by Sous-Chefs Christina and Jocky. The Red Team had to work with Marino in cleaning the dining room and kitchen along with polishing his shoes and prepping for the next service.

Cook For Your Life Challenge: Instead of a service, Ramsay announced the Cook For Your Life Challenge. Since Michelle and Nick were the last to remain in their respective kitchens, they had the privilege to nominate the three weakest chefs on their respective teams to participate. Michelle nominated Barbie, Elise, and Manda, while Nick nominated Giovanni, Milly, and Robyn. The six chefs were tasked with recreating Ramsay's champagne and oysters dish in 30 minutes.

Elimination: Before the judging, Elise broke down in tears, feeling as though she didn't deserve to be put up for the challenge. Milly was sent to safety first (despite preparing only five oysters instead of six as required), followed by Manda, Barbie, and Elise, leaving Giovanni and Robyn as the last two. Elise confronted Michelle in the dorms for getting nominated. Robyn was sent up to safety last despite puncturing two of her oysters, leaving Giovanni to be eliminated for putting too much pasta and not enough sauce on each oyster, though Ramsay wished him and his family luck.

Team Challenge: For their next challenge, Ramsay announced that the chefs would be cooking with three of the earliest meats hunted by man: boar, venison, and elk. Both teams had three minutes to hunt for five ingredients for each of their protein and had 45 minutes to cook their dishes. Each team had two members cooking each protein, minus Nick, the lone blue chef cooking venison. Ramsay brought in guest chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook. Van and Elise each scored a point for their walnut-crusted wild boar loin and venison and yam puree respectively, but in a big surprise, Robyn's elk and chimichurri sauce beat out Barbie's elk and chili-braised bok choy, and the Blue Team won. Ramsay even welcomed Robyn back after a string of poor performances.

Reward/punishment: The Blue Team went on an exclusive mountain retreat at Hummingbird Nest Ranch while indulging in luxury caviar from Petrossian, provided by executive chef Alex Ageneau. The Red Team had to clean the dorms and iron the waiting staff's aprons. During the punishment, Michelle tried to apologize to Elise for putting her up in the Cook For Your Life Challenge, but the latter rudely rejected her apology.

Dinner Service: A caviar blini appetizer special was included on the main menu. Later that night, Ramsay received a last-minute VIP booking from Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik, who sat at the red chef's table. The Blue Team had a perfect service, with all five members communicating well, and none of their dishes were cooked incorrectly. Ramsay praised this, only needing to lecture Robyn for calling her teammates "Baby". In the red kitchen, Elise was slow on the caviar appetizer and needed Jennifer's help. The kitchen came to a halt on entrees when Manda didn't hear an order of pork for one table, and Barbie served raw duck. The latter later sent up a raw chicken that Michelle thought was cooked. After Barbie and Manda again served raw duck and raw pork respectively, Ramsay kicked the Red Team out for having their worst service yet and asked for two nominees, with the Blue Team finishing their remaining tickets.

Elimination: The Red Team nominated Manda and Barbie, although Elise wanted to put up Michelle. Despite Barbie's horrendous performance on the meat station, Ramsay pinpointed Manda's forgotten pork as the main reason for the team's defeat and eliminated her, but praised her for her hard work and determination.

Team Challenge: The chefs participated in a fishing challenge where they had to waddle through a manmade lake outside Hell's Kitchen. They had to hook lures containing different ingredients to their fish's mouth and then throw it to their teammates. Each ingredient they fish out would go one of five fishes: Dover sole, red snapper, grouper, arctic char and cod. Afterwards, they had 30 minutes to cook their fish with the ingredients they fished out from the lake. Michael Cimarusti served as a guest judge. Jennifer scored over Nick on cod, while Robyn scored over Michelle on grouper. Milly scored over Elise (who only fished three ingredients) on red snapper, while Benjamin and Dana both scored a point on arctic char. Finally, Van scored over Barbie with his potato-scaled Dover sole, and the Blue Team won, four to two.

Reward/punishment: The Blue Team flew to Las Vegas in a private plane and stayed overnight at Caesars Palace. They also went on the world's tallest Ferris wheel, the Linq High Roller, with Sous-Chef Christina. The Red Team had to bring in hundreds of pounds of fish, then descale and fillet them. In addition, they were served a disgusting protein shake for lunch. Barbie threw away her entire shake, only to get caught by Sous-Chef Jocky, who then forced the rest of the team to finish their serving of shake. This caused Dana, Elise, and Michelle to vomit.

Dinner Service: This service featured an Asian fusion menu. Actor Aleks Paunovic and rapper E–40 attended service. TV personality Cheryl Burke and actor Dan Bucatinsky dined at the red and blue chef's tables respectively. Despite being advised by Sous-Chef Christina to lead, Barbie and Elise fought for control of the kitchen all night. The former delivered a raw New York strip to the pass, which prompted Ramsay to send the entire Red Team into the pantry. Burke informed Barbie that her duck was slightly undercooked; the latter offered to cook another serving of duck, but the former declined. Nevertheless, Barbie ordered Elise to prepare more garnish, an argument ensued and Ramsay ordered the two women to sort out their differences in the pantry. In the blue kitchen, Milly brought up a raw New York strip but recovered. Van failed to respond when Ramsay asked for a time on his salmon, and proceeded to bring up an overcooked portion; the latter threatened to throw him out for being non-communicative. Even though both teams completed service, they were declared losers and each asked for two nominees for elimination.

Elimination: The Blue Team nominated Robyn and Milly, but Ramsay called down Van as well. Much to the disbelief of the other chefs, Ramsay eliminated Van for his lack of communication on the fish station, but encouraged him to keep his head up. The Red Team nominated Elise and Barbie, but Ramsay simply sent them both back in line with a final warning.

Team Challenge: Ramsay announced that the annual Blind Taste Test was the next challenge, and for this season, they would be tasting herbs and spices mixed into a mashed potato puree. While one chef tasted the ingredients, one of their teammates would be in a chair, in front of a mashed potato cannon, and would get splattered with mashed potatoes for two incorrect guesses, gravy for three, and both punishments for four. Robyn scored three points while Dana failed to score any, resulting in Michelle getting messy. Nick scored two while Jennifer also failed to score any (resulting in Dana getting messy), and Benjamin scored three points while Barbie scored two. With Elise and Milly about to go, Ramsay warned the Red Team that if Elise did not catch up to the Blue Team, the challenge would be over. The Blue Team automatically won, eight to two, after Elise missed all three ingredients, so Michelle did not taste. This is the first Blind Taste Test that was won before the final round. Ramsay complimented the Blue Team as none of their members had gravy dumped on them.

Reward/punishment: The Blue Team went to chef Roy Yamaguchi's restaurant Roy's Hawaiian Fusion for lunch and received Vitamix blenders while at the restaurant. The Red Team was forced to clean up the dining room, then separate peppercorns and grind them by hand. During the punishment, Sous-Chef Christina noticed some animosity in the Red Team and asked them if they could promise a good dinner service, but Dana refused to do so as she did not have faith in Barbie.

Dinner Service: For one night only, Hell's Kitchen hosted a private dinner service for two charities. The Blue Team cooked for Shane's Inspiration, whose table featured founder Scott Williams and actor David Koechner. The Red Team cooked for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, whose table featured TV personality Jill Wagner, and actors Mindy Sterling and Tyler Posey. One member from each team took charge of a course, though Nick had to lead both the scallop appetizer and the passionfruit soufflé dessert with the Blue Team down a member. On the scallop course, led by Michelle and Nick, the former noticed that she was missing three scallops and Milly overcooked multiple portions. Jennifer led well on lobster spaghetti, while Robyn tried to start the course before the scallops were served, and plated more spaghetti than needed. On the striped bass course, Milly led the Blue Team vocally and got his plates out with no problems, but in the red kitchen, the sauce completely lacked seasoning and most of the bass was burnt, causing Elise to accuse her team of sabotaging her, despite her not checking the fish before serving them. Similarly, Benjamin led the beef filet Rossini course well, despite Milly sending up cold foie gras, while Barbie screamed aggressively at Michelle over a side of spinach and all the potatoes were burnt, greatly dismaying Ramsay. Dana and Nick had no issues with their desserts. Ramsay called the Red Team's performance the "worst-ever charity dinner performance in the entire competition" and tasked them with coming up with two nominees.

Elimination: During the deliberation, Barbie and Elise became confrontational, accusing Michelle of refusing to prepare the garnish for the beef course, and Jennifer of burning the fish for the striped bass course. Nonetheless, the former two were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Barbie for her aggressive leadership at service along with her failure to bounce back quickly, but praised her for her heart. He then remarked that the Blue Team's remaining four members would likely make up the final four.

Before the challenge began, Jennifer made a pact with her Season 9 archrival Elise to knock out Dana and Michelle, whom they believed weaker and to be in their own clique.

Team Challenge: Late in the evening, Ramsay announced the following day's challenge: the teams had to create three portions of a gourmet pasta dish on a limited budget. The chefs traveled to Jim's Fallbrook Market, where they were each given $20 and 10 minutes to shop for their ingredients. Back in Hell's Kitchen, they had 45 minutes to make their dishes. Ramsay was joined by two guest judges: James Beard Award-winning chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, the owner of Frasca Food & Wine in Boulder, Colorado and Bruce Kalman, the executive chef and co-owner of Union in Pasadena. Each judge gave a score based on how much they would pay for each dish. Michelle and Elise initially puzzled Ramsay by attempting to make a soup dumpling a play on paella, respectively, but both of their dishes were well-received and Milly's chicken meatball pasta was not, giving the women a $320 to $313 win. It was the first time they won a challenge since Episode 6.

Reward/punishment: The Red Team went go-karting at the MB2 Raceway and ate an incredible lunch. In addition, Michelle's Asian-inspired tortellini soup was put on the menu for being the highest-scoring dish. The Blue Team was forced to clean the pantries.

Dinner Service: Actors Tyler Hilton, Sebastian Roché, and Keesha Sharp attended service. Both teams got off to strong starts on appetizers, but struggled on meat. In the red kitchen, Dana severely burned several lobster wellingtons, forcing Ramsay to flip a ticket, and sent up one portion of raw lamb. In the blue kitchen, Robyn served a raw wellington and was criticized for interrupting Ramsay. She had trouble communicating with Benjamin on the garnish station, incorrectly repeated a ticket, and brought two beef wellingtons to the pass when one was on order, earning a trip to the storeroom. Despite that, both teams pushed entrees out, and with three tickets left each, Ramsay announced that the first team to finish service would win. On the last ticket, Dana served an overcooked wellington, followed by a raw one, and the Red Team got thrown out for the fourth time this season as the Blue Team finished their own tickets.

Elimination: Despite being told to nominate two people, the Red Team could not decide between Dana, Michelle and Elise due to Jennifer and Elise ganging up against Michelle. Ramsay called all three of them down, ultimately eliminating Dana for her lack of leadership and poor performance on meat. Dana was the only returning chef who had never been nominated, and this was her first time on the chopping block.

Ramsay announced that the chefs would be competing in a series of challenges to earn a black jacket, and two of them would be sent home.

Black Jacket Challenge 1: The first challenge was Taste It, Now Make it. The chefs had 45 minutes to taste Ramsay's sea bass dish and recreate it. Everyone correctly identified the protein as sea bass. Milly got the first black jacket for being the only one to identify the white and green purees, which were white asparagus and Romanesco respectively. Nick and Benjamin each identified four out of five ingredients in the hash: celery root, fava beans, apples, and chives, only missing sweet potato. Ramsay gave Nick the second black jacket because Benjamin's bass was slightly burnt. Nick and Milly received passes to the Black Jacket Lounge.

Black Jacket Challenge 2: In the next challenge, the remaining chefs were presented with five domes of ingredients: protein, starch, vegetable, wild card, and garnish. Each time the bell was rung, the chefs had to race to grab an ingredient from the dome, which they would be required to use in their dish. They were given 30 minutes to cook their dishes. Jennifer and Elise were criticized for serving raw potatoes and leaving the digestive tract on her lobster, respectively. Michelle's veal chops and Benjamin's filet mignon earned them the next two black jackets and passes to the lounge. Before their final challenge, Jennifer urged Robyn to beat Elise.

Black Jacket Challenge 3: For the final challenge, Elise, Jennifer, and Robyn were given 30 minutes to cook whatever they wanted with a full range of ingredients in the kitchen. The black jacket chefs watched the challenge on a live video feed, but it cut out after the challenge ended. Robyn made a seared lamb loin with potato and corn hash (despite having initially selected halibut as her primary protein), Elise prepared a filet mignon with potato puree and rainbow chard, and Jennifer made scallops and shrimp with butter and corn succotash.

Elimination: Ramsay first eliminated Elise for undercooking her steak and putting her potatoes in the blender, making the puree gummy, but urged her to keep her head up high. He then asked Sous-Chefs Jocky and Christina to taste Jennifer and Robyn's dishes. Ultimately, the latter received the final black jacket as the former's scallops were slightly undercooked. Before leaving, Ramsay praised Jennifer for her improvement since Season 9.

Individual Challenge: For their first black jacket challenge, the chefs had to teach professional athletes how to cook their signature dishes, which they had planned to make in the first challenge of the season, in 45 minutes. (Milly was paired with former NFL player Ricky Williams, Michelle with WNBA champion Candace Parker, Benjamin with the NFL's "Light's Out" Shawne Merriman, Nick with Olympic gold medalist gymnast Jordyn Wieber, and Robyn was paired with five-time NBA All-Star Reggie Miller) Once the cooking was finished, Ramsay judged the dishes, King of the Hill style. Michelle won the challenge by beating Milly, who had beaten Robyn and Nick, and then beating Benjamin.

Reward/punishment: Michelle toured Downtown Los Angeles in a helicopter, then ate lunch at the restaurant 71Above, and took Nick with her. The remaining chefs had to participate in deep cleaning day. During the punishment, Robyn got annoyed with Milly for eating the leftover food from the challenge instead of working.

Dinner Service: Rapper-musician Wyclef Jean dined at the chef's table. Former 2 Broke Girls actors Jonathan Kite and Matthew Moy attended service, in addition to actor Janina Gavankar. Milly had a messy workspace on the appetizer station and failed to notice a pan catching on fire. He also struggled to make the hot and cold appetizers at the same time, requiring Nick and Robyn's help, but managed to recover. Benjamin failed to communicate from the meat station and annoyed everyone with his constant "oui chef" reply. Michelle performed well on fish, only having trouble when she was slow to bring up the sauce for a halibut. Nick served a raw New York strip for the chef's table, but managed to quickly recover. Robyn delivered bland couscous and had trouble keeping up on garnish. She also earned the entire team a trip to the pantry after burning an order of Brussels sprouts and talking back to Ramsay. Despite the speed bumps, the team completed the rest of their tickets out with no problems. Ramsay named Michelle the "Best of the Best" as she was the only one not to make any major errors, and told her to nominate two teammates.

Elimination: Michelle nominated Robyn and Milly. Robyn accused Milly of slacking off during the punishment and service; Ramsay sent the latter back in line and eliminated the former for being the weakest of the black jackets, but praised her for improving strongly after her poor start, and allowed her to keep her jacket.

While the others headed back to the dorms, Ramsay called Milly over to remind him that the fighting and conflict wasn't necessary. Milly acknowledged this in an interview and apologized. Before the next challenge, Ramsay revealed that he invited the final four's loved ones (Michelle's sister and nephews, Nick's husband and mom, Benjamin's wife and daughters, and Milly's girlfriend and infant son) for some time together.

Individual Challenge: Ramsay set up a Christmas tree in the dining room, with four presents underneath. He had the chefs each select one present; they then had 45 minutes to prepare three portions of a holiday-inspired dish using the ingredients inside. Afterwards, Ramsay invited their loved ones for a blind judging, where each person would vote for their top two dishes. Benjamin's chestnut-crusted salmon and Michelle's seared venison loin each received three votes, while Nick's peppercorn-encrusted filet mignon received two and Milly's lobster tail mac and cheese none. Ramsay broke the tie in favor of Benjamin.

Reward/punishment: Benjamin rode with Ramsay in a Ferrari to lunch with his family, while Nick, Michelle, and Milly had to clean the Hell's Kitchen SUV's, as well as the dining room. During the punishment, they made a pact, as Season 14 representatives, to become the final three.

Dinner Service: For this service, each of the final four had a turn on the pass, with Ramsay not only testing their leadership skills, but also their quality control, as Sous-Chefs Christina and Jocky would make intentional mistakes. In attendance that night were actors Anna Konkle and Gabrielle Dennis. Benjamin was up first and managed to catch Christina serving a carbonara with spaghetti instead of fettuccine, but he failed to notice carrots being used in place of butternut squash in a risotto. Milly missed an intentional ticket mistake from Marino, but became vocal and caught Christina giving him shrimp instead of lobster, as well as multiple mistakes from Michelle on mashed potatoes. The latter sent back Milly's undercooked halibut and noticed Christina giving her the wrong garnish (it was supposed to be creamed spinach), but mistook ribeye for New York strip. Nick missed Jocky sending up a veal chop instead of a pork chop, but caught Christina serving creamed spinach instead of creamed leeks and Michelle serving duck sauce rather than lamb sauce, while Milly struggled to poach an egg. After service, Ramsay told the chefs to think of one person they wanted to be with in the finals.

Elimination: At the elimination, the other chefs said that Nick was the one they wanted to compete against. Ramsay then eliminated Milly, but said he was happy to give him a second chance, praised his confidence and allowed him to keep his jacket. In an unprecedented step, he offered him the opportunity to come to London for a week and stage at his flagship three-Michelin Star Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Milly enthusiastically accepted and left. Afterwards, Ramsay picked Nick as the first finalist and praised him for growing more than any other chef in the competition. Benjamin became the second finalist for his calm, collected leadership that night. However, in another unprecedented move, Ramsay named Michelle the third finalist, marking the first season in Hell's Kitchen history with three finalists.

Individual Challenge: The finalists were each assigned a sous-chef: Michelle got Jocky, Nick got Christina, and Benjamin got chef Kesha Tatro; the sous-chefs helped them prepare a five-course tasting menu, consisting of a hot and cold appetizer, as well as a chicken, beef, and seafood entree, in one hour. During this process, Nick overcooked the beurre blanc sauce for one of his dishes, but managed to recover with the help of Sous-Chef Christina. After sampling all the dishes, Ramsay was unable to decide on a winner.

Reward: Michelle, Benjamin, and Nick traveled to Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, to attend an awards ceremony for the fictitious California Culinary Association, where Ramsay took the stage and announced that they would be cooking their menus again for the executive staff of Caesars Entertainment Group.

Continued from the previous episode, Michelle picked Elise, so Benjamin was left with Barbie.

Dinner Service: Before dinner service, while both teams prepped their menus, Elise continued to give Michelle attitude until Nick told her to shut up or go home. Actor Lamorne Morris and the finalists' families were in attendance for the last dinner service of the season. In the red kitchen, Dana needed Michelle's help in assembling the hamachi appetizer, prompting Ramsay to give the latter a pep talk in the storeroom. Marino returned two risottos from Morris' table after a minor complaint about the broth, but Elise recovered and successfully re-fired them. Ramsay then scolded Nick for attempting to call nine entrees in a single sitting. Meanwhile in the blue kitchen, Barbie did well on the hot appetizers for Benjamin, despite only having been on that station once during the season. On entrees, Jennifer served two portions of raw bass twice. Robyn then served multiple raw and burnt filets, prompting Ramsay to accuse her of sabotaging Benjamin. When she finally brought up an acceptable filet, the lamb was raw. She then refired the lamb in the same pan that had been used to cook the steak, a cross-contamination hazard. Seeing Benjamin's passive handling of the situation, Ramsay had no choice but to throw Robyn out of the kitchen. The latter continued to fight with Benjamin to be allowed back in, and he finally relented on the last ticket.

Winner: As per Hell's Kitchen tradition, Benjamin and Michelle stood in front of two doors. The latter's door opened, making her the 17th winner and first All-Star winner of Hell's Kitchen; the former took his defeat graciously. Michelle gave a victory speech and hung her picture in the Hall of Fame. In the final credits scene, Nick stated he was proud of her for winning, Elise cried openly over losing to Michelle and Van asked Marino for a "real drink" as opposed to the standard champagne.