"Day 1" Signature dishes: The twelve chefs had 45 minutes to cook Ramsay their signature dish. Carolann's chicken parmesan received praise, while Elsie's turkey tacos were deemed "not bad" despite its underwhelming concept. All other dishes were poorly received: Ramsay spat out Andrew's "Absolute Penne", calling it "absolute dogshit", found Mary Ellen's endive dish boring, and Wendy's fried rice unimpressive. Ramsay also spat out Jimmy's stuffed chicken after finding it overcooked outside and raw inside, calling it a "dehydrated camel's turd", and hated Ralph's seared rare tuna and sesame noodles. Dewberry's baked spaghetti was overcooked, Chris's cedar-roasted salmon was raw, Jeff's steak was overcooked despite having a good sauce, Jessica's shelled crabs were seasoned with a spicy aioli that was too hot, and Ramsay found Michael's scallops "disgusting".

After the challenge, the chefs were divided into two teams: the blue team (Andrew, Jessica, Mary Ellen, Michael, Ralph, and Wendy) and the red team (Carolann, Chris, Dewberry, Elsie, Jeff, and Jimmy). The chefs then prepared for their first dinner service.

Service: Ramsay assigned Jeff and Ralph as waiters and would work with Jean-Philippe in the dining room. In the red kitchen, despite Elsie being strong on appetizers after initially overcooking risotto, Chris overcooked salmon, Jimmy served poor lamb and burnt his hand, Carolann stood at the dessert station instead of helping, Jeff struggled as a waiter, and Dewberry was slow. In the blue team, although Ralph received positive feedback as a waiter, Ramsay scolded Andrew for asking questions instead of serving his dessert, Wendy ran out of potatoes, and Michael nearly ran out of lobster for the spaghetti. Ramsay shut both kitchens down after customers began walking out. Ramsay named the red team losers but made it clear to the blue team that they did not win but were simply safe. Elsie was named best of the worst for the red team and told to nominate two chefs for elimination.

Elimination: Elsie nominated Carolann and Dewberry. Ramsay told Jimmy and Jeff they had dodged a bullet, then eliminated Carolann for her lack of teamwork during service and lack of experience