Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars

The pressure is on for big impressions as Gordon sets the tone and makes a splash with an extravagant entrance. In the first challenge of the season, the competitors are split into teams and tasked with creating a food shack on the beach. The teams must work together to develop an enticing menu and deliver excellent customer service to attract customers and make profit. The team with the most profitable shack is safe from elimination and a competitor from the losing team will go home.

Gordon challenges the competitors to host a themed charity gala for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. The teams must work together to deliver a fun atmosphere, food, drinks and an impactful presentation to guests in hopes of generating donations. As the entrepreneurs split into teams, they compete to dazzle the guests to raise the most money and impress event experts Mindy Weiss and Courtney Ajinca. Some will thrive as entertainers and others will cause their teams to fumble.

This week, the entrepreneurs put their marketing, branding and pitching skills to the test when Gordon challenges them to create themed wine boxes. The two teams must create a wine blend, food pairings and a name for their box that impresses a room of Napa Valley wine connoisseurs and marketing experts. Erica Davis and Catherine Carter, founders of Sip Society, are among the experts who will vote for the best box. The team who creates the most cohesive box and compelling pitch is safe from elimination. The team with the least number of votes will have one person go home.

The entrepreneurs must have excellent time management, advertising, and quality control skills to win this week’s challenge. Gordon pits two teams against each other to create an enticing menu for a delivery-only restaurant that will serve hungry office workers in Downtown Los Angeles. The teams must cook in a pared down ghost kitchen to create food that has consistent quality and can be easily delivered. As the customers will be ordering on a food delivery app, the teams have to take visually appealing photos of the food and market it to the local workers. The team that receives the best feedback from experts in the multi-billion-dollar food delivery business, including YouTuber MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), CEO of Uber Eats Dara Khosrowshahi and COO of Panera Bread Debbie Roberts wins the challenge. One person from the team with the least favorable feedback from the guest panel will be eliminated.

The nine remaining contestants head to the Arizona desert to prepare an outdoor dining experience. Adventure tourism is a booming business that requires entrepreneurs to know their customer and create an immersive experience with excellent hospitality. The competing teams will take ten thrill-seeking guests on a UTV tour, guide an outdoor activity and prepare a delicious meal to end the day. The guests will leave feedback on their experience and the team with the most positive reviews wins. Gordon will send one person from the losing team home.

At the halfway mark of the season, Gordon wants to make sure the eight remaining entrepreneurs—one of which he will ultimately invest in—have the ability to make noise and go viral on social media. Gordon himself knows the importance of digital marketing skills and has amassed 100 million followers across his social media making him the most-followed chef on social media. Instead of testing cooking abilities, this week Gordon challenges the contestants to create an entertaining, educational and easy to follow TikTok recipe video. Using ingredients surrounding them on the Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark, California, the teams will have three hours to create a video that showcases the step-by-step preparation of a vegetarian dish. Then, the clarity of the instructional video will be put to the test when everyday home cooks and experts including Next Level Chef Season 1 Winner Stephanie Pyet" Despain and food TikTok content creator Owen Han try to make the dish using the video the teams create. One person from the team who misses the mark on creating a clear and engaging video will be sent home."