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

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

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

Reward/punishment: The women rode a hummer to Takami Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles for a special dinner with Ramsay and spend time with previous winners Christina Machamer and Scott Commings from Seasons 4 and 12 respectively. The men cleaned the kitchens, prepped the dining room for opening night and transport the rises out of Hell's Kitchen, under the direction of maitre d' Marino. The men made fun of Matt's signature dish that cost them their chance at winning.

Service: In attendance for opening night were Nolan Gould and Erica Ash. Ryan and Kimberly and Aaron and Koop served tableside linguine and clams. The women got off to a strong start on appetizers, while the men struggled as Pat sent up soupy risotto and had to be bailed out by Paulie. Matt sent up raw scallops, blaming Andrew for pushing him to bring it up, followed by a heated confrontation between he and Ramsay, while Pat overseasons a risotto. After Matt sends up another raw scallop, both he and Genaro on fish are kicked out. Paulie's raw bass after moving to fish causes Ramsay to kick all of them out, while the women finish a solid opening night dinner service thanks to Jessica cooking perfect fish and Heather doing well on the meat station.

Elimination: Though Paulie was willing to nominate himself, Matt and Pat were nominated for elimination. Ramsay eliminated Pat for his poor performance on the appetizer station and surrendering full control to Paulie.

Team challenge: The chefs head into the SUVs and arrive at a raceway. Ramsay informs them that for this competition, they would be partaking in the first-ever Crepe Grand Prix. The teams must cook the perfect chicken and mushroom-stuffed crepes and race in golf carts to deliver the crepes to him. Whichever team delivered 10 perfect crepes to Chef Ramsay first would be the winners of this challenge. The men won their first challenge after the women's last crepe was rejected for the greatest comeback ever, as they trailed three crepes to none at one point.

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

Service: Noureen DeWulf and Dash Mihok were in attendance. Johnny and Paulie, and Heidi and Shaina handled the Dover sole appetizer. In the red kitchen, Jessica served soupy carbonara and was confused on appetizers, but rebounded. On the fish station, Gia shocked Ramsay by asking if she should work dessert, despite still being on entrees. Kimberly sent up raw lamb, but recovered and the red team got through the rest of the night without further incidents. However, in the blue kitchen, Aaron overdressed a kale salad, while Andrew forgot an order of scallops, setting his team back. Aaron made another mistake by not rolling his pizzas properly and trying to cook two of them on the same paddle. During the entrees, Genaro sent up raw New York strip twice, causing Ramsay to take drastic measures and called the women over to the blue kitchen, told the women to take over and kicked the men out of the kitchen for the second dinner service in a row.

Elimination: Genaro and Aaron were nominated. While Aaron was called out for his inexperience, Ramsay eliminated Genaro for his lack of passion and poor performance on meat.

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

Reward/punishment: Ramsay sent the red team off for a day of zip lining at Big Bear in a private jet. The blue team had to clean up the mess the ostrich eggs left behind from the challenge. While the rest of the team worked on the punishment, Matt angrily sulked in the dorm, even lashing out at Aaron and threatening to quit the competition. After Ramsay heard about Matt's outburst, he called him into his office for a pep-talk and Matt decided to stay, though was met with backlash from his teammates for ditching them on punishment.

Service: Andrew and Jessica each served rock shrimp pesto tagliatelle appetizer. The men stumbled when Koop made too much risotto, but he recovered. Paulie served Ramsay overcooked, then burnt scallops, much to Ramsay's anger. Recovering from his earlier meltdown, Matt stepped up and helped Paulie create a successful plate of scallops. Despite Aaron burning mashed potatoes on entrees, the men regrouped and successfully finished their first dinner service. In the red kitchen, Kimberly overcooked scallops but recovered. On meat, despite Gia's first lamb being perfectly cooked, she overcooked the next one and sliced her wellingtons poorly. Gia also told Ramsay that she cut off part of her finger. However, the injury was hardly noticeable. Marino takes Jessica's overcooked tagliatelle and reports it to Ramsay while she attempts to start over but was called back to the kitchen when Ramsay also discovers raw salmon and the poor execution of the beef wellington. All three issues caused the women to get kicked out of service.

Elimination: Gia and Jessica were nominated, though Jessica nominated herself. Despite Gia's horrendous performance, she revealed that Jessica had packed her bags prior to the elimination. Ramsay eliminated Jessica for nominating herself, feeling she did not have the confidence and fight needed to be a head chef.

Team challenge: The chefs entered to see Ramsay standing in front of them a variety of proteins behind him. The teams were divided into groups of two. One at a time, each pair would taste one of the four surf-and-turf entrees in front of them, run over to the wide array of meats, select one meat and fish which they think the entree was made up of and place them on their platform. However, Ramsay cannot tell them which meats are wrong. The team to correctly guess the two meats in all four meals in the shortest amount of time would win. The women ended up taking over 13 minutes, mainly due to Shaina and Aziza, while the men took eight, winning the challenge.

Reward/punishment: The blue team rode the waves on a flowrider at The Wave House in San Diego. The red team made sausage from scratch and chowed down on bizarre items no one would ever want to eat.

Service: Ramsay raised the stakes when he announced that each team would be working half of a 12-top table, consisting of several pregnant women. In addition, Pooch Hall was also a guest in the dining room. The mussels and sausage tableside were each handled by Wendy and Devin. In the red kitchen, Aziza deep fried her scallops after adding too much oil to the pan. Later on, the red team managed to finish cooking their entrees, but were forced to wait on Gia's garnish, resulting in Ryan assisting. Meanwhile, in the blue kitchen, Koop sent up ice-cold lobster, but managed to recover. The men also grew frustrated with Aaron for not communicating, even though his meats were cooked perfectly. Despite almost finishing service, on the last ticket, Aaron sent up an undercooked Wellington, while Koop sent up an overcooked sea bass and the blue team were kicked out of the kitchen once again.

Elimination: The men nominated Koop and Aaron. However, Ramsay spared them both and decided to eliminate Gia for her bad attitude, back to back poor performances as well as losing the faith of her team, making her the seventh chef to be eliminated despite being on the winning team.

Team challenge: The chefs choose an opponent on the opposite team, while the opponent chooses a body of water, with a fish written on the back of a scroll held by a sailor on a ship in the middle of the room. Heidi scored over Johnny, as his plate looked like "it had been attacked by a cat". Koop scored over Kimberly, due to her couscous being executed poorly. Shaina and Matt both scored with grouper, while Paulie won over Aziza with wahoo. Ryan scores over Aaron's watery plate, while both Devin and Heather score for their team. Finally, Andrew scored over Wendy with bass, giving the men the win.

Reward/punishment: The guys team dined with Ramsay at Petty Cash and got to go bowling. The women broke down and diced up a large shipment of potatoes, carrots and celery (mirepoix) for a seafood chowder in addition to cleaning the kitchens. The women were already fed up with Kimberly for not cooking her couscous properly and losing the challenge for them, but she made things even worse. While in the kitchen, Kimberly irritated her teammates by asking a lot of questions.

Service: Chef's tables take center stage with Joe Perry in the blue kitchen and Estelle in the red kitchen. Matt and Heather each handled the clam chowder tableside. Aziza and Paulie each led well on appetizers. However, in the blue kitchen, Devin served up cold asparagus while Johnny sent up raw salmon. In the red kitchen, Ryan and Heidi had control of meat and fish, respectively, delivering perfect dishes. They along with Kimberly's strong garnish performance gave the women a strong service, although Ramsay warned Ryan to speak up. The men, on the other hand, sunk as Andrew sent up raw New York Strips twice, while Johnny burned a salmon and Devin sent up bland creamed spinach, causing the men to get kicked out of service.

Elimination: Aaron and Devin were nominated. Ramsay mentions one more but refuses to say that individual's name and instead wants his nominee to step forward. Johnny voluntarily nominates himself and steps forward. Ramsay sends Devin and Johnny back in line, and eliminates Aaron for his low confidence, inexperience and failure to gain his team's respect, but is praised for his passion.

Team challenge: The teams have five minutes to use the books to spell out an ingredient on the crossboard. They each then have 45 minutes to make a dish that consists any of the ingredients that were spelled out. Since the blue team is one man down, the red team chose Aziza's dish to sit out due to the under cooked chicken. Ramsay scored each dish on a scale of 1-5, with the blue team winning.

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

Service: Guests in attendance for family night were Lauren Lapkus and Ciara Hanna. Kimberly and Andrew handled the quesadilla station. Both teams had rocky services. In the red kitchen, Shaina served raw pizza despite Heidi's warning, Aziza struggled on garnish, Wendy served raw lamb, and Heather served raw salmon. In the blue kitchen, Paulie had a poor performance, serving a raw burger and undercooked sea bass on a later ticket, Johnny served a raw egg, Devin served undercooked grilled cheese. For the most part, both teams managed to bounce back from their various mistakes. However, despite both teams finishing service with no one ejected and because of the numerous mistakes in both kitchens, Ramsay announced that there will be no winning team and told both teams to come up with two nominees.

Elimination: Aziza, Wendy, Devin, and Paulie were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Aziza for being the worst performer of the night, but praised her for her big heart.

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

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

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

Team change: Shaina and Wendy were both nominated. Wendy thought she was eliminated but Ramsay spares her and also tells Shaina to take off her jacket. Ramsay then switches both of them for Andrew and Matt on the blue team respectively.

Team challenge: Ramsay announced that the next dinner service with be the first ever Hell's Kitchen International Ballroom Invitation. Both teams have 40 minutes to work together to come up with a pair of chicken, beef and fish entrees that are packed with International flavor. Jonathan Roberts and Michelle Johnston will not only judged the dancing competition tomorrow night, but will also pick the dishes that'll be on the menu. Wendy won the chicken entree round for the blue team, but it was Kimberly and Ryan on their respective fish and beef entree's that won it for the red team.

Reward/punishment: The red team went kayaking in Santa Barbara and ate seafood at The Lark. The blue team preps the raw bar by handwashing the oysters and clams as well as breaking down the lobsters.

Service: The red team turned a near perfect service, their only problems being Matt burning scallops and Ryan and Kimberly arguing on the meat station. The blue team had a very rocky service. Wendy forgot to cook a carbonara and Paulie cooked too many risottos too early. Things got worse on the entrées, Johnny failed to sear the bass he was working on (despite Shaina asking if they should, with Johnny not taking her advice) and also served raw bass and Devin served raw chicken while forgetting a portion. With the blue team 10 tables behind the red team (including the judges table) Ramsay lost his patience, threw the blue team out of the kitchen and sent the red team to finish their service for them.

Elimination: The blue team failed to decide between Wendy, Paulie and Johnny, so all three of them were called forward. Ramsay eliminated Johnny for his second disastrous performance on fish and refusing to take responsibility for his errors.

Team challenge:

Reward/punishment:

Service:

Elimination:

Team challenge:

Reward/punishment:

Service:

Elimination: