Quickfire Challenge: The chefs chose from a large selection of fruit to prepare a plate judged solely on presentation.

Elimination Challenge: The chefs had to make a sexy dessert for a fetish party at Mr. S, a sex boutique in San Francisco, for 50 guests, including drag queen RuPaul.

Elimination Challenge: Working in two teams, the chefs prepared monkfish for a group of children at the Boys & Girls Club, who would rate the food.

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs created dishes in 30 minutes using $20 worth of ingredients from a gas station store.

Elimination Challenge: The chefs had to create a seven-course dinner party for Ted Allen to celebrate the launch of his latest cookbook.

The guest diners chose which restaurant to attend and rated them based on food, atmosphere, and overall experience, which determined the winning and losing teams.

Quickfire Challenge: The chefs were asked to recreate a classic junk food element into a gourmet dish in 45 minutes.

Elimination Challenge: The remaining chefs traveled to the Napa Valley's Copia museum to prepare a dish incorporating expensive black Périgord truffles to be served with 2001 Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon wine.

The dishes were served to a group of top professional chefs from Northern California, including Douglas Keane, Cindy Pawlcyn, Philippe Jeanty, Lissa Doumani, Hiro Sone, Greg Cole, James McDevitt, Keith Luce, and Victor Scargle, alongside the founder of Shafer Vineyards, John Shafer.

For each challenge, the chefs had to prepare hotel room service meals in 30 minutes for different customers: first, a room of high rollers, including eliminated competitors Lee Anne, Miguel, and Stephen; then, a table of poker players, including Phil Hellmuth; lastly, performers from Cirque du Soleil.

Elimination Challenge: The two finalists each prepared a five-course tasting meal to be served to a table of luminaries from the culinary world.

Each finalist was also assisted by two sous chefs, consisting of the four most recently eliminated contestants: Dave, Lee Anne, Stephen, and Miguel.

The guest judges for the challenge were actress Lorraine Bracco, Food & Wine editor-in-chief Dana Cowin, restaurateur Drew Nieporent, and chefs Hubert Keller and Michael Mina.