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

Sixteen chefs arrived at Hell's Kitchen and met James, the new maître d'. They were then taken to the LA Market restaurant in JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live to meet Chef Ramsay and were told that the competition winner would become the head chef there before Ramsay had them return to the kitchen to make their signature dishes.

Team challenge: The men competed against the women being judged by Ramsay. Russell's grilled calamari steak and Emily's duck breast both earned a point, Vinny's poached halibut scored over Nona's fried chicken, neither Antonia's mardi gras gumbo or Curtis's lemon pepper chicken earned a point, Jillian's vegetable stuffed chicken scored over Rob's pistachio crusted rack of lamb, Gail's dish failed to score a point as she burnt the potatoes she used, Trev's dish was called an "embarrassment", Lisa's meat was dry and Louis's lobster lost out. Boris's dish scored over Melissa's dish and Sabrina's fish scored over Raj's seafood and vegetable pancake, tying the score at 3–3. As a tie-breaker, Ramsay judged Antonia's dish to be the worst, making him physically ill and puke twice, giving the men the win.

Reward/punishment: The men received massages while the women cleaned the kitchen.

Antonia's exit: Shortly before dinner service, Antonia suffered a migrane and collapsed. She was rushed to the hospital and would not return to the competition.

Service: Michelle Branch was a guest for opening night in addition to Donald Schultz. Raj and Emily were assigned as waiters, while Boris and Melissa were assigned a special pizza menu. In the red kitchen, Melissa served raw pizza, Lisa worked slowly on fish and undercooked halibut and Sabrina served beef Wellingtons too early. In the blue kitchen, Raj struggled as a waiter, Trev overdressed salads, Boris mimicked Ramsay and was given a stern warning and Raj and Boris had trouble working together on pizzas. After two hours with no entrees and only a few appetizers, Ramsay shut down the kitchens and named no winner.

Elimination: Even though Antonia was removed from the game, Ramsay still said one chef will be eliminated. Raj, Trev, Lisa and Sabrina were nominated. Although he considered Sabrina because of her selfish attitude, Ramsay sent her, Trev, and Raj back in line and eliminated Lisa for her abysmal performance on fish and feeling she was over her head.

Team challenge: The chefs worked in pairs to make five salmon cucumber avocado rolls and four pieces of tuna nigiri according to Ramsay and master sushi chef Masaharu Morimoto's specifications. Afterwards, the men chose Trev and Curtis to sit out to even the numbers. The men won 16-15.

Reward/punishment: The men joined Ramsay in a trip to Cellar360 in San Francisco for wine tasting and got to keep their Morimoto knives. The women prepped sushi and ate squid.

Service: Since both teams made James first night as maitre d' hard, Ramsay appointed Vinny and Jillian as assistant maître d’s. On the red team, Nona had a strong performance on fish, but Emily struggled on meat and Melissa got orders mixed up on garnish, forcing Ramsay to switch her with Jillian. On the blue team, Vinny was slow on taking orders and was caught telling one table not to order sides as it involved Raj's station and he was worried that Raj would not be able to get the sides ready in time. When Ramsay hears about this from James, Vinny attempted to explain that he told the table that he would recommend ordering sides, but that it would take a long time for them to be served. Raj's confusion at the situation intensified after an angered Ramsay accused him of telling Vinny not to take side orders. Eventually, Vinny admitted his doubts for Raj's performance, and Ramsay kicked Vinny out of the kitchen as a result. Things only got worse for the blue team as Boris took over scallops from Trev and ended up serving them raw, Curtis was kicked out for poorly slicing an avocado roll and forgetting to put wasabi on it, Raj was kicked out for stacking the garnish station, and finally Ramsay lost his patience and ejected the entire team after Louis unbalanced walnuts on two plates of Caesar salad. The women completed service, being named clear winners.

Elimination: Raj and Boris were nominated. Despite picking Vinny as his own nominee, Ramsay spared the trio and eliminated Curtis for struggling on sushi as well as being the main reason for the blue team's collapse.

The chefs were woken up by paramedics, who gave them health exams.

Team challenge: The teams cooked breakfast for fifty paramedics; the team that finished first would win. Rob forgot to put pineapple in fruit salads, while Emily burnt bacon. Due to Raj's abysmal performance on scrambled eggs (including leaving and putting his head in the freezer to calm down), the women finished before the men even served one table, so Ramsay had them help the men.

Reward/punishment: The women visited Santa Monica's Viceroy Hotel to attend trapeze school and had lunch with Ramsay. The men had to clean the kitchens and polish stemware. During the punishment, Trev (who initially tried to help Raj) angrily berated the latter for his constant poor performances, causing Raj to lose his temper and yell in Trev's face. Before the argument escalated, Russell and Boris managed to pull Raj into the corridor and calm him down.

Service: Trev and Sabrina served cocktails in the dining room. In the red kitchen, Emily's appetizers were returned for being too salty, Melissa overcooked Dover sole and Gail dozed off while one of her meat pans caught on fire. In the blue kitchen, although Vinny did well on appetizers, Boris had trouble cooking beef Wellington and Raj struggled on the fish station; he first added sauce to a salmon that wasn't supposed to have sauce, and then angered Ramsay even more by serving the next salmon raw, which he smashed with his bare hand. Later on, Raj was caught eating the discarded entrees on the blue kitchen, frustrating his teammates and Ramsay. When Raj did cook better fish, Ramsay found out he cooked multiple Dover Soles that weren't even ordered, which emptied their supply. On the brink of a meltdown, Ramsay ordered Raj to go out into the dining room and tell all the customers who ordered Dover Sole of this situation, but when Raj protested this due to a dirty jacket, Ramsay and Scott angrily forced him to. Despite these setbacks, both teams completed service. Ramsay could not pick a winner, so he garnered the customer comment cards and the men narrowly won with a 54% above average rating, compared to 50% for the women.

Elimination: Emily and Sabrina were nominated. However, Ramsay once again spared the nominees and (to the blue team's relief) eliminated Raj for being a consistently terrible performer in both the team challenges and dinner services and earning the ire of his teammates, as well as stating that he was out of his league. This made him the third chef to be eliminated from a team that had won dinner service.

Team challenge: Each chef had to create ravioli with their own pasta, filling and sauce. They then had to present the dishes from best to worst for judging by Ramsay. The chefs all got good reviews, except for Louis. Ramsay named the men winners.

Reward/punishment: The men took a helicopter trip to a coastal resort to play golf, and Vinny's ravioli was placed on the menu for Italian night. The red team clean the kitchen and milk cows.

Service: Jack Osbourne was in attendance for this service. The men did well on ravioli, but Louis undercooked pork and Rob burnt pizza. Ramsay then kicked out Boris for washing dishes instead of cooking and Louis for serving raw chicken parmesan. In the red kitchen, Melissa forgot a ravioli before serving it cold, while Sabrina and Gail struggled to work together on meat and garnish, but the red team finished service. The women were then ordered to help the men, but after no success, Ramsay kicked everyone out. Ramsay named both teams losers.

Elimination: Melissa, Sabrina, Louis and Boris were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Louis for being the worst performer of the night.

Team challenge: The chefs prepared a tasting menu of an appetizer and two main dishes for the Beverly Hills High School prom committee, who ended up favoring all 3 of the women's dishes, shutting out the men.

Reward/punishment: The women visited the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park. The men cleaned the kitchens and help the prom committee put up decorations. Angered by the punishment and having to be told what to do by high school students, Russell rudely addressed the prom committee when one them casually talked about the men's teamwork, until being reprimanded by James.

Service: The dinner service was for the prom. Vinny and Nona assisted Ramsay plating food. The blue team got a fish entrée added to the menu, since all of the red team's dishes were meat-based. In the red kitchen, despite Sabrina's strong performance on appetizers, Emily served soggy crab cakes and raw halibut and Melissa overcooked filet mignons before they finished serving appetizers. While Ramsay scolded Melissa for slicing meat too early, Nona interrupted him, causing him to scold her instead. In the blue kitchen, Boris also had soggy crab cakes but Russell helped him push through. Both teams finished service; Ramsay named the men winners and praised Russell; Sabrina was named "Best of the Worst".

Elimination: Sabrina nominated Melissa and Emily. After asking Nona, Ramsay eliminated Emily for her lack of passion and effort.

Team change: Prior to the team challenge, Ramsay moved Melissa to the blue team as one more chance to improve, while sending Trev to the red team as a way for Trev to step up as a leader.

Team challenge: The chefs prepared entree salads. Sarah Tenaglia, the senior food editor of Bon Appétit magazine, was the guest judge. After a 2–2 tie, Rob's salad was named best, giving the blue team the win.

Reward/punishment: The blue team had lunch at the Getty Villa in Malibu, and Rob's salad was added to dinner service and featured in Bon Appétit magazine. The red team had to eat a flower salad with bugs for lunch.

Service: Rob's salad proved difficult for both teams; Nona struggled on scallops and Ramsay changed the order to a rock shrimp salad when Melissa wasted all of the blue team's scallops. Sabrina struggled on garnish, while Boris overcooked garnish, causing Ramsay to throw him out. Though both teams finished service, Ramsay named no winner and had the teams nominate one chef for elimination.

Elimination: Sabrina and Boris were nominated; Ramsay also nominated Nona and Melissa. Ramsay eliminated Melissa for her declining performances and making too many simple mistakes.

Team challenge: The chefs spun a modified roulette wheel with 18 letters of the alphabet.^{[note 1]} Each chef had to name an ingredient starting with the letter that the ball landed on and then had 30 minutes to cook a dish using those ingredients.^{[note 2]} The red team won after Rob failed to season asparagus and yams properly.

Reward/punishment: The red team went to Las Vegas and enjoyed a special appearance by Penn & Teller while the blue team prepped the potatoes for French fries.

Service: The theme for service was family night. Special guests included Ramsay's family, and Jerry Springer and his family. Both teams served fries on time, though both Nona and Rob struggled to keep up on garnish, Vinny was scolded for making risotto ahead of schedule and attempting to serve an old risotto to Ramsay's wife, and Boris, after cooking meat perfectly, almost sliced on a dirty board until Ramsay jumped in. Both teams completed service and both garnered a satisfaction rating of 90%, making both teams winners, though Ramsay had each team nominate two chefs for elimination.

Elimination: Sabrina, Nona, Boris and Rob were nominated. Ramsay called down Nona and Rob, and asked Rob to remove his jacket, but surprised him with a clean jacket, retaining all chefs for a job well done.

Team challenge: The chef visited local supermarket Bristol Farms, where they had 20 minutes and 60 dollars to buy ingredients for four dishes; beef, pork, lamb and chicken. They then had 45 minutes to cook their dishes. Four judges, one for each type of meat, were brought in to assess how much they would pay for the dishes. The red team won $110-$101.

Reward/punishment:The red team went sail boating, had a seaside dinner and went mambo dancing, while the blue team had to fumigate both kitchens and prep them for the black tie dinner service.

Service: In celebration of Hell's Kitchen's 100th service, service was an invitation-only, black tie affair. Four past Hell's Kitchen winners were sat at the chef's tables; Rahman "Rock" Harper (Season 3) and Christina Machamer (Season 4) in the blue kitchen, and Danny Veltri (Season 5) and Holli Ugalde (Season 7) in the red kitchen. Also in attendance were various dignitaries and celebrities such as cast members of Lesley Bargar Suter, Iqbal Theba, Patrick Gallagher, Hugh Garvey and Sarah Tenaglia. The red team near-flawlessly completed service, their only problems being Nona serving an old risotto and Trev heavily struggling on garnish, to the point that all the women had to help him. Trev was eventually kicked out, allowing Nona to take control of the station, ensuring a smooth service for the red team. In the blue kitchen, Boris had a poor performance on appetizers, three of Vinny's lobsters were returned for being overcooked and Rob forgot a chicken, putting them eight tables behind the red team. When the chicken was served, it was raw, causing Ramsay to kick the blue team out. The red team completed their service, being deemed clear winners.

Team change: After warning Trev about his horrendous performance, Ramsay reassigned him to the blue team, re-igniting the battle of the sexes.

Scott brought a room service cart where the chefs enjoyed its various offerings, but Ramsay noticed they could not tell a five-star appetizer from a fast-food one, leading to the next challenge.

Team challenge: The teams did a blindfold taste test of various food items. Russell identified two ingredients compared to Gail's one. Sabrina and Rob incorrectly identified white asparagus, smoked mussels, cheddar cheese, and thought filet mignon was chicken, shocking the chefs and Chef Ramsay. and Jillian and Vinny both scored two. Lastly, Nona scored three compared to Trev's one, giving the women a 6-5 win, and impressed Chef Ramsay on her pallet.

Reward/punishment: The women went on a $2000 shopping spree at a local boutique and dined at XIV, a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Michael Mina, while the men removed recyclables from a garbage truck filled with trash, dined on American cheese sandwiches and prepped both kitchens for service.

Service: In the red kitchen, Jillian did well on scallops, but Nona struggled on beef and argued with Ramsay, who kicked her out. In the blue kitchen, Rob undercooked scallops and halibut, but shaped up after Ramsay's warning. Vinny was kicked out for serving raw gnocchi, as was Russell for serving raw chicken and Rob for more undercooked fish; Trev completed his team's service with help from Sous Chef Andi. Ramsay was dissatisfied but named the red team winners and Trev "Best of the Worst". After the post-mortem, Ramsay gave Nona encouragement, but warned her not to argue with him again during service.

Elimination: Trev nominated Rob and Russell. Ramsay eliminated Rob for being a consistently poor performer and outstaying his welcome.

Team challenge: The chefs had to prepare three dishes: tagliatelle, salmon with lobster ragout and poached chicken. However, only one chef from the team was allowed in the kitchen at a time and the chef had five minutes before having 15 seconds to brief the next chef. Ramsay rated the dishes and awarded the blue team the win, since Jillian dropped her salmon.

Reward/punishment: The men went on a shopping spree at Sur La Table for cooking equipment, followed by dinner at Mélisse, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Santa Monica, where they met its head chef, Josiah Citrin. The women took in deliveries of food for Hell's Kitchen.

Service: The teams created their own menus, and diners had a choice between the two. Although the diners ordered more from the red team, Citrin ordered from the blue team. In the red kitchen, Nona made poor mushroom risotto and Gail served unacceptable lobster capellini seven consecutive times, forcing Ramsay to kick her out. In the blue kitchen, Vinny struggled on Citrin's lamb entree. Russell helped him, but Citrin disapproved of it, angering Ramsay, before Vinny served raw sea bass. Although both teams completed service, Ramsay named no winner. Ramsay had the chefs individually nominate another for elimination.

Elimination: Russell nominated Vinny, Trev and Vinny nominated Sabrina, and Gail, Jillian, Nona and Sabrina all nominated Trev. Ramsay called Trev down, but gave him the first black jacket; Jillian, Nona, Russell and Sabrina were then given black jackets. Ramsay then gave Gail the last black jacket and eliminated Vinny for worsening performances.

Challenge: In the first individual challenge, each chef had 30 minutes to create five servings of an amuse-bouche to be judged by five notable chefs in the Los Angeles area out of 20 (10 for presentation and 10 for taste). The final ranking was: Russell (100), Gail (87), Sabrina (70), Nona (67), Jillian (65) and Trev (62).

Reward/punishment: Russell received a tour of LA Market with Ramsay, a meeting with executive chef Kerry Simon, and chose Gail to join him. The others had to prep the kitchen and clean the dorms.

Service: Nona served Steak Diane at tableside. Sabrina fried risotto and underdressed salad and Trev overcooked spaghetti and argued with Sabrina and Russell. Gail failed to properly cook fish, Jillian served salty mashed potato, and Russell undercooked Beef Wellingtons. Some entrées were served, but after Russell undercooked ribeye, Ramsay threw everyone out.

Elimination: Trev and Sabrina were nominated.^{[note 3]} Ramsay eliminated Sabrina for her inconsistency and lack of maturity, but praised her for her big heart.

Challenge: The chefs had to prepare 80 portions of their signature dishes in one hour in a food truck; the diners at LA Market ranked the dishes from best to worst. Over 40% of the diners voted for Gail's skirt steak with mangoes and pecans entrée as the best, while Russell's grilled octopus and aioli salad entrée was deemed the worst.

Reward/punishment: Gail went to José Eber's studio in Beverly Hills for a makeover folowed by a trip back to Hollywood for a new style look by Steve "Cojo" Cojocaru. The others had to clean the exterior of Hell's Kitchen and wash the food trucks.

Service: Ramsay assigned stations to the chefs. In addition to Cojo, Paris Hilton and twelve Marines were also in attendance. Russell helped Jillian on fish as she had not worked the station before, but Nona undercooked spaghetti and Ramsay and Scott stormed out when Trev served a cold ribeye. The chefs managed to send out appetizers, though Trev tried to re-fire the ribeye. Ramsay and Scott then returned and Ramsay mixed the chef's stations around, issuing an ultimatum to kick out anyone who made a mistake. He kicked out Gail for undercooking salmon and Jillian for serving a raw egg dish, while the remaining three completed service.

Elimination: Gail and Trev were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Gail for her worsening performances over the past three services, remarking that he was disappointed she did not make it even further than she did.

Challenge: Each chef had 30 minutes to cook an entrée using the ingredients provided; Ramsay tasted each dish and identified its ingredients by taste alone. This led to the actual "taste it, make it" challenge, where the chefs had 45 minutes to recreate a dish that Ramsay made without knowing the ingredients. Jillian made a good-tasting dish, but missed every ingredient except for the chicken stock. Trev correctly identified carrot purée rather than yam purée, but forgot to put it on the plate, and used pork instead of veal. Russell had bacon instead of pancetta, but the seasoning was fairly close. Nona won by matching everything except the purée.

Reward/punishment: Nona received a copy of Ramsay's cookbook, Recipes From a 3 Star Chef and a set of cookware. She also chose Russell to accompany her for a day at Hands On Boutique Spa for massages. Trev and Jillian prepped the kitchen and did laundry, including Ramsay's chef's whites. Prior to service, Ramsay gave Jillian a pep talk after her recent poor performances.

Service: Trev spent a long time slicing beef Wellingtons despite cooking them perfectly. When he tripped and forgot two wellingtons, Ramsay put him in "time out" twice. Russell had some mishaps on scallops and halibut and Nona miscooked risotto twice, but Jillian cooked garnishes perfectly. Eventually, they completed service, which Ramsay called "not perfect, but bloody good".

Ramsay announced that since no chef was eliminated last time, he would eliminate two chefs in this round.

Challenge: The chefs had 45 minutes to cook a fusion cuisine dish, using a combination of ingredients from two countries, selected by drawing flags at random.^{[note 4]} Each dish was then judged by three chefs who were experts in fusion cuisine. While Trev, Nona and Russell received mediocre reviews, Jillian impressed with her Spanish/Thai paella dish.

Reward/punishment: Jillian joined her family and Ramsay for lunch at Spago, while the others cleared out the dorm furnishings of their past contestants. Prior to the service, Ramsay told the chefs they would each have a turn handling the pass.

Service: Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Sasha Vujačić was a guest at the chef's table while Sanjaya Malakar attended as a guest. As each chef took a turn on the pass, Scott introduced some deliberate errors. Russell rejected Trev's scallops and spotted pecans in a salad instead of walnuts. Nona was strong in leadership, rejecting Russell's chowder, but was not able to spot mashed potatoes being served of mashed celery root. Trev tried to send out entrees before appetizers on a table and had trouble getting the attention of his teammates, but spotted seabass being served instead of halibut. Jillian originally struggled in leadership, but recovered after prompting by Ramsay, rejecting Trev's undercooked fish, though she failed to spot rib eye steak being served instead of New York strip steak.

Elimination: Ramsay firstly eliminated Trev, but praised him for his determination. Ramsay then selected Russell and Nona to advance to the final, eliminating a teary-eyed Jillian. Ramsay allowed Jillian to keep her jacket, though her photo was burned.

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

Challenge: Nona and Russell prepared five dishes for a taste challenge; each dish was judged by an executive or executive chef, including Kerry Simon. Russell won 3-2.

Russell was granted first pick in drafting a team using the eight chefs eliminated from the competition prior to the final. Russell picked Jillian, Vinny, Sabrina and Rob, while Nona picked Gail, Melissa and Trev, and was left with Boris.

Service: In the blue kitchen, Ramsay caught Sabrina putting stock in beef before she served a raw beef, and Rob argued with Russell, causing Russell to switch them with Vinny and Jillian respectively. Russell tried to serve two tables at once, but this backfired when they were returned for being undercooked, earning him a warning from Ramsay. In the red kitchen, Boris served raw fish three times, forcing Trev to jump in, causing an argument to erupt between the two. and Melissa served raw beef, but recovered. Both teams finished service.

Winner: Ramsay determined the winner based on the diners' comments and his own observations. Each finalist stood in front of a door; Nona's door opened, making her the eighth winner of Hell's Kitchen. Unlike all of the previous runner-ups of Hell's Kitchen, Russell took his defeat ungraciously, blaming his teammates for his loss.