Eighteen contestants arrive to Hell's Kitchen and are welcomed inside; Oscar De La Hoya, Martina McBride, Dia Simms, and host Gordon Ramsay are all standing behind four opaque doors as voiceovers of their life and rise to fame are played, with the corresponding celebrity opening their door upon the voiceover's completion. Ramsay explains the theme of the season as "the American Dream" and instructs each chef to begin the signature dish challenge.

Team challenge: Ramsay scored their dishes on a scale of one-five. Leigh struggled with her salmon, as her pan was too hot and the skin was burnt; she removed it and served the dish skinless. Notably good signature dishes included Ryan's veal dish and Sammi's linguine with clams (both five points), as well as Johnathan's gnocchi dish (also five points), while notably poor dishes included Tad's sausage biscuits with strawberries (one point), as well as Dahmere's lobster spaghetti, which had boxed pasta (one point). The challenge ended in a tie, 29-29, with Ryan and Sammi's dishes settling the tiebreaker; Ramsay ultimately gave the win to Sammi and the women.

Individual challenge: Ramsay revealed that each contestant had to prepare their very own scallop dish by shucking and cleaning scallops by hand. Each team had to nominate their three best dishes and Ramsay would pick the winner from each team. The women voted for Sammi, Leigh, and Melissa's dishes while the men picked Jermaine, Johnathan, and Ryan's dishes. Ultimately, Melissa and Johnathan won the punishment passes, which allowed them to skip a punishment for a reward and choose the member of the other team to take their place in the punishment.

Service: De La Hoya and McBride sat at the chef's tables while Garcelle Beauvais and Alex Mack were also in attendance for opening night, which was rocky for both teams. For the men, Jason undercooked lobster twice, while Brad and Tad undercooked De La Hoya's steak. Ramsay kicked them out after Tad undercooked chicken and Jason undercooked halibut. The women didn't fare much better as they were berated for celebrating after serving the first table of appetizers. On entrées, Carmen had trouble keeping up on fish and argued with her teammates, Sandra undercooked steak, Atoye undercooked chicken, and Ramsay kicked the women out as well after Claudia giggled nervously when they were getting yelled at.

Elimination: The men nominated Brad and Tad, while the women nominated Sandra and Atoye. Ramsay first sent Sandra back in line, believing her performance was not poor enough to justify being nominated, then eliminated Tad for his unacceptable performance on meat as well as failing to make any form of positive impression up to that point.

Individual challenge: Each team was tasked with making crab cakes, omelets, chicken & waffles, and steak & eggs for a dining room full of recently naturalized U.S. citizens. On the red team, Claudia undercooked chicken, which prompted Raneisha to take over the station; she was able to cook it without any refires. On the blue team, Mattias undercooked two steaks; he was also able to rebound and serve the diners without any further issues. The men narrowly won the challenge, finishing one table ahead of the women.

Punishment/reward: The men enjoyed a poolside lunch atop a private resort while the women had to pick up confetti from the naturalization ceremony and prep the kitchens for service. Melissa declined to use her punishment pass. During the women's punishment, Melissa claimed the kitchen was free of confetti when there was a loose strand atop a table; sous-chef Christina responded by dumping one of the bags the women had filled onto the floor for the women to pick up once again. The men enjoyed the reward as a team without any infighting (aside from playful ribbing at the lunch table).

Service: Victor Cruz and Bobby Berk sat at the blue and red chef's tables, respectively; also attending were Alaska and Liam Pace. In the blue kitchen, Mattias' meat issues continued when he repeatedly undercooked steaks and chicken, sometimes burning the outer edge on one side. Jermaine sent up overcooked wellingtons, and Brad ran around the kitchen aimlessly once his appetizers were complete in search of a new task; eventually, Ramsay got fed up and kicked the men out after repeated failures. In the red kitchen, Claudia served raw lobster tail for the risotto; she was able to refire it properly, but later fell behind with Donya on fish entrées for Liam Pace's table. Carmen continued to struggle on proper communication by calling out ticket times that were not agreed upon by the rest of the team. Raneisha undercooked meat twice, and when a meeting in the store room did not improve service quality, Ramsay also kicked out the women and both teams were named joint losers for the second service in a row.

Elimination: The women nominated Donya and Claudia while the men nominated Mattias and Brad. Ramsay was perplexed by Brad and Donya's nominations, even going so far as to ask Donya whether she felt her nomination was fair, to which she believed Carmen should have been nominated instead. After sending the two of them back in line, Ramsay ultimately eliminated Claudia, believing she did not exhibit enough consistency or professionalism to win.

Individual challenge: One chef from each team was tasked with elevating a classic American comfort food. Melissa and Brad had cheeseburger, Mattias and Raneisha had pizza, Jason and Carmen had chicken wings, Ryan and Atoye had spaghetti & meatballs, Leigh and Dahmere had mac & cheese, Jermaine and Donya had lobster roll, Sandra and Devon had philly cheesesteak, and Sammi and Johnathan had fried chicken. The challenge went exceptionally well for both teams; the only chefs not to a score a point were Jason (as his wings were too salty for Ramsay's liking), Atoye, and Raneisha (who both deviated from the dish too far for Ramsay's liking). The men narrowly won the challenge seven-six; Melissa used her punishment pass, trading places with Jason in the punishment.

Punishment/reward: Jason and the women were tasked with making bread by hand the entire day while Melissa and the men got to enjoy a parasailing excursion followed by dinner at a mansion in Santa Barbara. Jason severely annoyed the women with his snide remarks and comments, believing they were not working fast enough for restaurant standards. Melissa and the men enjoyed the reward as a team, with Dahmere encouraging the team to continue their hard work and reminding them that their pursuit of the culinary industry got them into the reward they enjoyed.

Service: Nikki Howard sat at the blue chef's table while Jennie Garth sat at the red chef's table. Gigi Gorgeous was in attendance despite not being mentioned in this service.^[30] On the blue side, Mattias continued his inconsistencies from the previous service on the fish station, sending undercooked lobster tail for risotto to the pass twice before finally cooking it to Ramsay's standards. On meat, Ryan and Jason struggled, with Ryan undercooking lamb and Jason placing whole knobs of butter on New York strips instead of basting it with melted butter (an act which upset Ramsay to the point where he pulled the blue team up to the pass and sternly put Jason back in line in front of everyone). The women had a very good service; the only issues were Raneisha adding too much liquid for a carbonara and lying to sous-chef Christina about it, Sammi overcooking halibut, Atoye not firing garnish according to ticket times, and Sandra not communicating with the team. After Ramsay pulled Sandra aside and warned her to get focused, the women rebounded. Both teams completed service for the first time, and the women were named the winners over the men.

Elimination: The men nominated Mattias and Jason. Although Ramsay was still fed up with Jason's flippant attitude and willingness to "cut corners" for convenience, he ultimately eliminated Mattias, feeling he was on too severe a downward spiral to continue any further.

Individual challenge: The chefs were tasked with identifying four surf and turf combinations (oysters and venison, crab and ostrich, halibut and veal, & monkfish and rabbit). The women fell behind in large part due to Sandra and Donya hesitating to make choices during their portion of the challenge; ultimately, they finished with a time of 13 minutes, 14 seconds. The men fared much better by comparison during their attempt, finishing in half the time with a total of 6 minutes, 39 seconds.

Punishment/reward: The men were treated to an axe throwing excursion followed by a gourmet lunch while the women had to butcher and portion fish by hand. Ramsay joined the men, offering a secret prize to whoever they deemed to be the best axe thrower (which ultimately was Dahmere; during the pre-mortem, he was gifted with a Vitamix blender by Ramsay). Melissa did not take the punishment gracefully, as she felt she had carried the challenge on her shoulders and was fed up with how the women were treating her.

Service: Paula Abdul sat at the women's chef table while Dolph Lundgren sat at the men's chef table. Matt Stonie, Anjelah Johnson, and Brad Gilbert were also in attendance. Both teams had prominent issues; on the blue side, Devon and Brad twice brought up scallops after Jason had already delivered risotto to the pass, which Ramsay did not appreciate. Brad had issues calling accurate tickets, which only became worse after he developed laryngitis mid-service, and Jermaine tried to wrap wellingtons in aluminum foil to get them to cook faster (which only overcooked them and destroyed the outer appearance of the puff pastry). On the red side, Melissa neglected to communicate with her team in any meaningful manner, instead deferring the duty entirely to Sammi (who worked garnish alongside her). Raneisha and Sandra both had considerable issues on fish, ranging from overcooking scallops to undercooking halibut. Carmen sent a bland risotto, but bounced back quickly. Though both teams completed service, Ramsay declared the blue team sole winners, giving the men their first service win, while deeming the red team's service as a disaster, before asking the women to nominate 2 chefs for elimination.

Elimination: The women nominated Sandra and Melissa for elimination. Ramsay asked both women why their teams had "given up on them", and after each gave their answers, he eliminated Melissa, feeling she had lost her passion and was complacent with ostracizing herself to an unacceptable degree.

Individual challenge: The chefs were greeted at a soccer field by Alexi Lalas as part of their next challenge, where they would have to pair up and kick soccer balls at targets placed in a soccer net to determine the two styles of fusion cuisine they would have to cook. Ramsay and guest judge Tony Messina reviewed the dishes. The men scored the first two points before the women scored the next three. Ryan's French-Japanese dish beat Raneisha's to tie things up, and Johnathan's Japanese-Thai dish beat Carmen's to secure the fourth consecutive challenge win for the men. Ramsay and Messina voted Johnathan's dish as the best of the day, which won him two tickets for a tour of Allegiant Stadium.

Punishment/reward: The men spent the afternoon playing bubble soccer, with each of them also receiving a Keurig coffee machine. The women had to shuck peas, dice pancetta, and grate Parmesan cheese by hand to prepare carbonara for service. Brad returned from the reward feeling unwell, revealing that he had surgery shortly before arriving at Hell's Kitchen.

Service: Melissa Rivers and Eric Dickerson were in attendance. The men pushed through appetizers thanks to Dahmere's vocal leadership, despite Jermaine's struggles on scallops. On entrées, Jason dropped fish too early, causing Devon to bring cold steak to the pass; however, they bounce back on their next attempt. The women also have a near perfect service except for Raneisha causing a fire on the fish station and overcooking scallops, needing Donya's help to get organized.

Brad's exit: During the service postmortem, Brad admitted that his body was making it too hard for him to continue in the competition, and it was best for him to leave. Ramsay did not comment on Brad's elimination. Despite praising both teams, especially Dahmere and Donya, Ramsay still asked for two nominees from each team.

Elimination: The women nominated Raneisha and Sandra, while the men nominated Jason and Jermaine. Ramsay eliminated Raneisha for her lack of improvement through five services and lacking enough experience, but praised her determination.

Individual challenge: Each team was tasked with grilling various proteins (flat iron steak, chicken breast, chicken thigh, swordfish, trout, and tri-tip steak) and elevating them to a gourmet level. Guest judge Aaron Franklin offered mostly favorable reviews to the chefs aside from minor criticisms about texture and appearance; ultimately, the women won five-two over the men.

Punishment/reward: The women got to enjoy an outing at Dave & Buster's followed by an outdoor lunch while the men had to clean the grills used for the challenge (which were gifted to the women) and prep for service. The women were relieved to experience a reward after four challenge losses, while the men took their punishment in stride and moved onto dinner service.

Service: Rick Harrison sat at the men's chef table while G-Eazy sat at the women's chef table. Also attending service were Jane Casupanan and Jazmin Avalos. Sammi, having romantic feelings for the rapper, tried her best to keep composed upon greeting him; after her somewhat awkward introduction, she returned to the meat station and had a smooth evening. Sandra, who was also working meat, had an inconsistent night where certain meats were cooked well while others were not, however, she was able to rebound fairly well and the women completed dinner service in a respectable fashion. The men's service did not fare well; despite a promising start by Jason and Jonathan on appetizers, the men quickly lost momentum, largely due to Jermaine's inability to stay on top of garnish and failing to properly communicate ticket times and quantities. This became especially problematic for Devon on meat, as he often failed to produce the correct number of portions needed for each ticket (one table had to be sent without an individual steak due to such an error and was delayed considerably). The men were kicked out after Devon served a raw steak, driving Ramsay to his breaking point. Dahmere had another strong service, communicating to the blue team throughout the night, and was named best of the worst with sole responsibility for nominating two individuals.

Elimination: Dahmere selected Jermaine and Devon for elimination. After Jermaine was not able to answer Ramsay's question of "who is the weakest chef on your team", Ramsay eliminated him, feeling he was shutting down and failing to be an asset to his team any longer.

Individual challenge: Each team was tasked with preparing five popular ethnic American dishes (Chinese, Mexican, Indian, Thai, and Italian). Every time 5 minutes passed, Ramsay would force a chef to leave the kitchen and verbally communicate directions to other chefs. Since the red team had six members while the blue team had five, Donya sat the entire challenge out. Atoye and Johnathan were the first two to leave, followed by Leigh and Dahmere, then Carmen and Jason, then Sammi and Devon; Sandra and Ryan remained in the kitchen the entire time. When the last 5 minutes came, everyone (except for Donya) returned to the kitchen and finished their original dish, plating it as the time concluded. Everyone except Atoye and Carmen scored points on their dish; the blue team won 5-3.

Punishment/reward: The women had to assemble a compost box and sort through trash the entire day while the men got to enjoy a day of rest and relaxation followed by a buffet. Leigh and Sandra struggled to assemble the box, having to tear it down before rebuilding it once more; the women did not take the punishment gracefully. Sous chef Jason arrived to the reward site as the men ate lunch, reminding them of the magnitude of the prize at hand by being one of Ramsay's executive chefs in Las Vegas and to remain focused.

Elimination challenge: When the teams had concluded their respective days, Ramsay called each of them individually into his office to review their performance thus far and to get their opinion on who was, in their eyes, the "weakest" chef left on their team. Ultimately, the two chosen from the red team were Sandra and Atoye, while the two chosen from the blue team were Jason and Devon. Their challenge was to make any dish they wanted to using a filet mignon as the main protein. Devon sliced his filet too early, then tried to return it to the oven after realizing his mistake; the chefs watching him in the dorms nervously berated him for doing so. Atoye's parsnip puree was not strained, leading to an unpleasant, grainy texture; on the other hand, her filet was cooked up to Ramsay's standards. Jason chose to cut his filet instead of presenting it whole, a decision Ramsay would later criticize him for doing; aside from this error, the rest of his dish was executed well. Sandra's mushroom garnish with her filet was received with confusion by Ramsay; he openly stated that he had "never seen anything like it before". Ultimately, Jason and Sandra would be sent back to the dorms first, leaving Devon and Atoye has the final nominees; Ramsay would give the winning edge to Atoye, eliminating Devon by default.