The fifth season begins with Hell's Kitchen's most promising group yet: sixteen professional chefs competing for a position at the Borgata in Atlantic City. After Chef Ramsay judges their signature dishes, they face the pressure of the first dinner service, and one must face the ignominy of being the first sent packing.

The contestants go to a meat locker to learn different cuts of beef. The teams race to impress chef Ramsay when they are asked to put their new found knowledge to the test.

50 young football players and cheerleaders will be served breakfast by the 13 remaining chefs. One team runs short on eggs, and 1 more chef is released.

After sending the chefs to an Asian market, Chef Ramsay challenges them to create three Asian-fusion dishes utilizing poultry, seafood and beef. The teams then present their dishes for judging by Chef Ramsay and Tanya Steel, Editor-in-Chief of Epicurious.com. The following night, the teams go head-to-head at dinner service, and tensions run high as chefs from both teams crack under pressure. Chef Ramsay throws in a last-minute twist before sending the losing chef home.

The remaining 11 chefs are challenged to cook variations of the three favorite foods of the honoree for his Bar Mitzvah. The dinner service seems to go well, but not for one contestant.

Chef Ramsay challenges the teams to create delicious tapas style, or small portioned, dishes out of left-overs. At dinner service, one chef's performance nearly takes both teams down and the lack of unity on the Blue Team leaves Chef Ramsay fuming.

Chef Ramsay challenges the team's palates in a blind taste testing. In a packed dinner service, anxiety is higher than usual when celebrities Eric McCormack and Robert Patrick stop by.

Each team member is asked to create a dish using King Crab, but only one dish can be selected to represent them in front of Chef Ramsay. Both teams have a chance to show off the creativity in the kitchen when they get to create their own menus for dinner service, but internal conflicts cause chaos in the kitchens.

The six remaining chefs are on their own now that Chef Ramsey has dissolved the teams. This week's challenge is for the chefs to use 14 simple ingredients in a dish. Later, the chefs will once again need to work as one for dinner service, but things heat up and one chef finds themselves in need of medical attention.

Chef Ramsay sends the remaining chefs off to New Jersey to dine in the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, where one of them will be running a restaurant. When the chefs return, they are asked to create their signature dish which they would serve in their restaurant should they win.

The chef's taste buds are put to the test when Chef Ramsay prepares three dishes for them to try. They are then given thirty minutes to prepare just one of the dishes, the fish stew, identifying the ingredients only by taste. The winner enjoys an afternoon with Ramsay, taking an amazing ride in a bi-plane. The losing chefs are punished with polishing crystal and cutlery, cleaning the carpets and prepping for the evening's service. During the dinner service Chef Ramsay tells them they need make it all the way through not only for themselves, but for one of their guests, who plans to propose to girlfriend during the dessert course. Two chefs rise to the challenge, but two struggle throughout the night. One is ultimately eliminated and then Chef Ramsay announces a surprise, to be revealed in the next episode.

It's down to the final three, who must prepare a meal for 100 of L.A.'s finest chefs. The winner gets some face time on FOX's local morning show, while the losers do the laundry as they watch the winner on TV. At the dinner service, each contestant is given a chance at the pass running the kitchen.

The final two chefs prepare for their ultimate challenge. They must design their restaurants as well as create a winning menu. But they won't be there to oversee the renovations- Chef Ramsay flies them back to the Borgata where they compete to wow the Hotel's CEO with their signature dish.

The season 5 finale finds the remaining two chefs competing in their final dinner service competition. The winner will be named head-chef at a new restaurant at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.