Hell's Kitchen (U.S.)

In the first of a two-part season premiere, sixteen contestants get a shot at culinary stardom and a chance at nabbing an executive chef position in the Canadian resort town of Whistler, British Columbia. First, the budding chefs must prepare signature dishes as part of a team effort. Then it's on to the first dinner service before the field is reduced to fifteen.

In the final part of the season premiere, a contestant from season five returns and the fifteen remaining chefs prepare for a seafood-accented dinner service by deveining shrimp.

Chef Ramsay wakes up the fourteen remaining chefs in the middle of the night and orders them to prepare a spaghetti dinner for hungry firefighters. The team that serves the food first wins; the losers must wash and wax fire engines.

The aspiring chefs must craft perfectly proportioned six-inch sausages. The guests being served a cold and salty dinner include: Drew Lachey, John O'Hurley, Tom Green, Melinda Clarke, Christopher "Kid" Reid and Kristy Swanson.

The twelve remaining chefs must plan menus for a gastronomic salute to a returning U.S. Marine. The losing team will have to clean and decorate the dining room for the party under the guidance of Gordon Ramsay's wife Tana.

The remaining chefs must create three-course meals that only total up to 700 calories. The winning team spends a day at the beach and receives volleyball pointers from Olympian Annett Davis while the losers prep both kitchens.

The remaining chefs roll dice to determine which ingredients they will use for their challenge dish, with the winning team earning a trip to Las Vegas.

The nine remaining chefs take a blind taste test. The winners score a dinner date with Chef Ramsay in a pitch-black dining room where they can't see what they're eating.

The budding chefs make crepes, with the winners dining at a French restaurant while the losers must prepare for a French-themed dinner service.

Winter Olympic medalists Sasha Cohen and Jonny Moseley are the special guests and judge the meals prepared by the contestants. All the ingredients are brought in from Whistler, B.C. - the site of the restaurant at which the winner will be stationed.

The six remaining contestants must replicate dishes that Chef Ramsay prepared for them. The winners will dine with season four winner Christina Machamer. For dinner service, the teams are merged.

The challenge for each of the remaining contestants is to make a dish that looks as good as it tastes. Experts from "Bon Appétit" magazine help Chef Ramsay with the judging, and the winner gets an evening out with Ramsay and editor Barbara Fairchild at a Santa Monica luxury hotel.

The final four contestants meet a diminutive version of Gordon Ramsay - British child actor and impressionist Felix Light. Then they must prepare meat-free meals for eighty other youngsters.

In part one of the season finale, the three remaining competitors must each prepare a dish with components from around the world, which will then be judged by a group of international culinary experts. The challenge's winner's family gets to sample the recipes that were prepared by executive chefs.

In the final part of the season finale, the two budding chefs go head-to-head as they prepare dishes worthy of Araxi, the restaurant and oyster bar that the winner will win a coveted head chef position at.