- The chefs present Ramsay their signature dishes, the teams were each told to choose a team captain, and the winner for this season will be the executive chef at Ramsay's restaurant in LA, the London West Hollywood.
- Fifteen chefs arrived at Los Angeles International Airport and were driven to Hell's Kitchen, unaware Chef Ramsay was accompanying them in disguise. When they arrived, they met Jean-Philippe and each chef took turns impersonating Ramsay, who then revealed himself to the chefs.
Signature dishes: The chefs were given 45 minutes to create their signature dish. Vanessa's pan-seared halibut was chosen as the best, with Rosann's spicy mussel soup also getting good feedback, while Ben's mash potatoes and gravy was deemed "not bad". The remaining dishes were poorly received; Craig's jerk seared Chilean sea bass was a "pile of shit", and Jen served raw rice, while Ramsay described Corey's dish as plain and Jason's as something that would not even pass as something tinned. Shayna burnt her protein and Ramsay found Dominic's chicken cacciatore boring and Petrozza's hen-in-a-pumpkin both bizarre and dry, while telling Sharon her dish was not up to scratch. Christina's dish was ruined by "terrible execution" despite a good concept, Ramsay scolded Louross for not doing more and Bobby for deep-fat-frying his fish, which he found lazy. Matt's exotic tartar received the worst review with Ramsay vomiting after sampling it.
Captains: For the first time in Hell's Kitchen history, the teams were each told to choose a captain. The women quickly decided on Vanessa, while the men eventually chose Bobby, at the expense of not learning the menu for the first service.
Service: None of the men knew the menu. Petrozza and Shayna served tableside amuse-bouche. While Petrozza was amicable with customers, Jean-Philippe criticized his slowness. In the red kitchen, Sharon proved unable to get the appetizers out, serving a completely tasteless risotto Chef Ramsay likened to rice pudding then one that reeked of garlic and was thrown off the station, while Jen, who took over for Sharon initially didn't fare much better, ruining quail eggs by flipping them over despite serving acceptable risotto. Ramsay fired Vanessa as captain due to her weak leadership and had Rosann take over, and thanks to her strong guidance and Jen rebounding, the team finished appetizers, though Corey overcooked a chicken on entrees. In the blue kitchen, Jason and Dominic on appetizers and fish failed to produce an acceptable dish between them. Jason was first reprimanded for smoking on the patio at the start of service and not being present when Ramsay called out the first order. He then repeatedly served the risotto incorrectly, first serving a bland risotto and then overcooking and burning it. After this, Ramsay forced him to eat the burned risotto. Jason also served under seasoned and congealed soup. Dominic repeatedly binned orders of scallops in his failed attempts to cook them and, when he finally did serve them, he overcooked them. Ramsay also criticized him for stupidly holding the order of scallops in his hands, even though Jason wasn't even close to competing the risotto. The other men repeatedly requested Bobby's help, but he repeatedly refused, stating that he "didn't want to join in the chaos" and "make them look stupid," for which Ramsay rebuked him. Craig likened this to Bobby quitting, and Ben said that Bobby needed to "have to have a little more scoot in his boot." Eventually, Louross took over the initiative and led the others, after which Ramsay had him take over from Bobby as captain. Jason finally served appetizers, but the customers had already left, leading Ramsay to shut the kitchens down. No entrees were served, but the women were named winners for at least serving appetizers; Louross was named Best of the Worst.
Elimination: Louross nominated Bobby and Dominic. Despite Bobby's horrendous leadership, Ramsay eliminated Dominic for being out of his depth and performing poorly on fish, but warned Bobby and Jason that they had both "dodged a bullet."
Dominic's exit comment: "Being here and being sent home first night is really a heartbreaker. I had an opportunity to work with Chef Ramsay. It was a dream of mine, but that dream was dashed."
Ramsay's comment: "To be a great chef you need passion, creativity, and talent. Dominic had passion, but that was it."
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