Fifteen bad cooks enter boot camp with dreams of putting their kitchen nightmares behind them. Chefs Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence want to see what they are dealing with so they begin by asking the recruits to make their signature dishes.

The recruits enter boot camp and discover that they will be going back to the basics with meat-and-potatoes challenges.

The teams go head-to-head in a potato-sack relay race to collect ingredients for game-day meatballs.

The recruits begin by getting up-close and personal with their spice cabinets in a "Skill Drill" game that requires the teams to identify various commonly used spices.

After finding that boot camp has been turned into a carnival, the recruits are asked to participate in a pie-eating contest for the chance to dunk their opponent's chef.

The recruits begin by embarking on a treasure hunt fit for a pirate when their teams are tasked with discovering clues left for them by pirate captains Anne Burrell and Tyler Florence.

It's the penultimate week of boot camp and if the remaining recruits want a spot in the finale, they must first work in teams to play Remote Control Chef.

The final two recruits learn a three-course, restaurant-quality meal before the Main Dish Challenge; judges Debi Mazar, Michael Psilakis and Jessica Tom take the recruits' dishes into a blind taste test to determine the $25,000 grand prize winner.