For the season's first challenge, the hopeful chefs prepare their signature dishes. The winners ride a hummer to Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach to meet William Shatner ("Star Trek").
The teams participate in a "Hell's Kitchen craps" challenge. The winners take a private jet to Las Vegas and stay at the Planet Hollywood resort and casino.
Dogs and trainers from American Kennel Club drop by Hell's Kitchen. Meanwhile, the teams create a tasting menu consisting of two appetizers and three entrées.
The teams create six Italian opera-inspired dishes. The winners go on a shopping spree at American Rag Cie, while the losers break down squid for a squid-ink tortellini dish.
The contestants split into pairs and capture animals. The chefs have to prepare a side to go with the protein that they just caught.
The chefs must identify mystery proteins and match them to dishes. The winners meet Olympic gold medalists at the Annenberg Community Beach House.
The teams serve brunch to a class of graduating culinary students. The winners fly to San Francisco to dine at Atelier Crenn the losers grind and stuff chorizo sausages.
In a challenge to improve communication skills, Chef Ramsay gives each contestant a jacket with a recipe printed on the back, which they need to rely on their teammates to read.
This episode's challenge? Re-create Chef Ramsay's geoduck sashimi. The team that prepares fifteen perfect dishes gets a pool break while the losing team makes dinner for everyone.
The remaining chefs prepare a dinner service for special guests from Oxfam America, including Academy Award-nominee Minnie Driver ("Good Will Hunting”).
The remaining chefs must cook three dishes for special guest judges, but there's a catch: they have just $35 and fifteen minutes to shop for ingredients.
The contestants take part in the annual blind taste test. The winners get a private ice skating lesson from Olympian Rachael Flatt. The losers make ice cream for the dinner service.
Two rappers wake the contestants and sing their instructions: the teams must create their own menus. The group with the most popular menu is safe from elimination.
Chef Ramsay orders each chef, one by one, to enter a grocery store in complete darkness. They must use the sense of touch to collect five ingredients.
The chefs must match eight cuts of pork with their corresponding parts on the body of a pig. The winners get to choose which cut of pork they will use in the next challenge.
Chef Ramsay brings the teams to his eatery and has them prepare the restaurant's signature dishes. Members of the losing team face Ramsay's wrath and are susceptible to elimination.
Given only thirty minutes, both teams must create a meal with surprise ingredients presented to them every few minutes. The winners are treated to a lunch at the beach.
In the season twelve premiere, Chef Ramsay splits the twenty competing chefs into two teams. For the first challenge, each team prepares a signature dish.
In the season finale, the two chefs and their respective teams participate in a final dinner service that will determine this season's winner.
The final two chefs must prepare two appetizers and three entrées to present to a panel of respected judges. The winner gets first pick in a team of chefs eliminated from the competition.