Craps Challenge

Craps Challenge
The Craps Challenge during Season 13
Gameplay
Type	Team Challenge (Seasons 6-8, 10, 13, and 19) Individual Challenge (Seasons 20 and 22)
Seasons Used	Season 6 Season 7 Season 8 Season 10 Season 13 Season 19 Season 20 Season 22

The Craps Challenge is a recurring team challenge in Hell's Kitchen.

Overview

One by one, each team member rolls a 20 sided giant dice, containing different letters, onto a board. They have 10 seconds to name an ingredient starting with the letter they landed on, and repeats are not allowed. Once both teams get their ingredients, they have to cook a dish using those ingredients. The team which Ramsay deems have the best dish wins the challenge.

The main purpose of this challenge is to see how creative the chefs can get with random ingredients.

History

Season 6

Episode 7 of Season 6 marks the first time this challenge happened. At that time, there were 10 chefs left in the competition, with 5 on both teams. But, since Robert was still hospitalized, Andy went up twice. The red team got garlic, ham hock, haricot verts, which was French for green beans, potato, and rabbit, while the blue team got haddock, figs, angel hair pasta, apples, and tomato. They then had 30 minutes to cook their dish. The red team made a pan-roasted tenderloin and leg of rabbit with a garlic-rosemary purée with hammock stock, while the blue team made a braised haddock with a tomato and fig sauce on top of angel hair pasta. Despite little confidence, the blue team managed to win since the red team's garlic purée was too strong. The blue team won an overnight trip to Las Vegas, while the red team had to take in deliveries, and clean and prep both kitchens for the next dinner service.

Season 7

In episode 4, the challenge happened when there were 12 chefs left in the competition, with 6 on both teams. Before he rolled the dice, Scott jokingly asked Ramsay to blow on it for good luck. The blue team got halibut, endives, salsify, crab, peas, and bacon, while the red team got mango, duck, beets, shallots, ham, and turnips. They then had 30 minutes to cook their dish. The blue team made a pan-roasted halibut with bacon, pea and crab ragout, salsify purée, and a crab and endive salad, while the red team made a mango-glazed pan-seared duck with a turnip purée and ham, mango and beets. In a close match, the blue team won after Ramsay felt that the red team's duck had too much fat remaining. The blue team won a skydiving experience in a vertical wind tunnel, while the red team had to clean the front entrance of Hell's Kitchen, and prep both kitchens.

Season 8

In episode 7, the challenge happened when 9 chefs were remaining, with 5 on the red team, and 4 on the blue team. That season replaced the dice with a roulette table containing 18 letters on it. Vinny, from the blue team, went twice to even the ingredients up. The blue team got kale, yams, miso, sea bass, and asparagus, while the red team got rutabaga, cauliflower, Bok choy, fennel, and salmon. They then had 30 minutes to cook their dish. The red team made a grilled salmon with cauliflower purée and baby bok choy, pan-roasted fennel, and rutabaga chips, while the blue team made a pan-seared striped bass with braised kale, asparagus, and fried yams in a miso broth. The red team won since the blue team's yams and asparagus were not seasoned properly. The red team won a trip to Las Vegas and met magician duo Penn and Teller, while the blue team had to prepare potatoes to make French fries.

Season 10

In episode 11, the challenge happened when there were 10 chefs left, with 5 on both teams. It also returned to the dice format. The blue team got heirloom tomatoes, daikon, dragon fruit, edamame, and chicken, while the red team got chicory, lamb, turnips, Brussels sprouts, and truffles. They then had 30 minutes to cook their dish. The red team made a herb-crusted rack of lamb on top of crispy roasted Brussel sprouts and braised endives and chicory, while the blue team made a charred chicken roulade with dragon fruit vinaigrette, edamame purée, and daikon-dragon fruit sushi roll. In a close match, the blue team won as the red team's Brussels sprouts were undercooked. The blue team was rewarded with an overnight trip to Las Vegas, while the red team had to cook pulled pork with an alarm going off every hour.

Season 13

In episode 9, the challenge happened when 11 chefs were remaining, with 6 on the blue team, and 5 on the red team. Frank, for the red team, went twice to even up the ingredients. The red team got potatoes, duck, lime, lemons, heirloom tomatoes, and pine nuts, while the blue team got cauliflower, Chilean sea bass, leeks, Mache, daikon, and tomatoes. This time, each team member cooked their own dish based on their team's ingredients. At the end of the 45 minutes delay, both teams had to choose a representative, the red team going with La Tasha's pan-seared duck breast with citrus roasted heirloom tomatoes chutney, scalloped potatoes seared in duck fat, and a toasted pine nut pesto, while the blue team went with Bryant's Chilean sea bass with cauliflower purée, melted leeks, sweet tomato jam, and tossed mache in olive oil. It was very close, but in the end, La Tasha's dish won over Bryant's as his daikons were under seasoned. Even worse, it was revealed that Sade's dish was the best of the blue team and that it could have won it. The red team was rewarded with a trip to Las Vegas and dinner at Ramsay's BurGR, while the blue team had to take in ice packs, replace the ice machines, prep a king-sized halibut, and take in ingredients at 3 am.

Season 19

In episode 8, the challenge happened when there were 10 chefs left, 5 on each team. It returned to the craps board for the first time since Season 13. Both teams had to roll for six ingredients, and Cody and Kori had to roll twice for both their teams. The red team got mushrooms, rice, monkfish, Miso, Thai chili, and sprouts, while the blue team got haricots verts, celery root, carrots, pork, honey, and seranno. After that, the chefs had to cook their own dish using those ingredients that would be judged on a 1-5 scale. When the score ended as a 19 point tie, Ramsay brought up Nikki and Cody's dishes as they were the best from their respective teams. In the end, Cody's dish won out, and the blue team won the challenge. The blue team received high wire lessons with Absinthe, and a special lunch at Nobu, while the red team prepped Wellingtons for both the restaurant and for Gordon Ramsay Steak, which included prepping the mushrooms for the duxelle.

Season 20

Episode 12 marked the first time the challenge took place as an individual challenge. It was the second Black Jackets Challenge of the season. Five of the Seven remaining chefs competed as Trenton and Brynn already won their jackets. For that year, the five chefs rolled for ingredients that everyone would use for their own dishes and Ramsay joined in by rolling twice. The chefs had 45 minutes to cook a dish using bluefin tuna, rice, peppers, turnip, heirloom tomatoes, lemon, and black truffle. Megan's sesame seared tuna with balsamic soy-glazed and rice salad and Kiya's sesame-crusted tuna paired with jasmine rice, blistered tomatoes, and pickled turnips were deemed the best of the five and they won the challenge. They received their black jackets and spent the rest of the day in the Black Jackets Lounge. The three remaining chefs competed in the final Black Jackets Challenge.

Season 22

Episode 12 had the challenge as the first Black Jackets Challenge when there were seven chefs left. For that year, the seven chefs rolled for ingredients that everyone would use for their own dishes and Ramsay joined in by rolling for the protein. The chefs had 45 minutes using halibut, spinach, miso, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips, prosciutto, and truffle. Johnathan's spinach in two ways with a herbed truffle-crusted halibut and miso oil Berblanc dish was well received enough for Ramsay to give him a black jacket before the judging concluded. After the judging, Sammi's miso beurre glazed halibut with broccoli puree and cauliflower gurbani won her the second black jacket. Both spent the rest of the day in the Black Jackets Lounge and Johnathan received a Hexclad knife set. The five remaining chefs competed in the second Black Jackets Challenge.

Trivia

• Season 8 is the only season to date that did not use the craps board format.
• The blue team has won this challenge the most with four seasons.
• In the two times this challenge was used as an individual challenge, it was part of the Black Jackets Challenge.

Gallery

• Season 6
• Season 7
• Season 8
• Season 10
• Season 13
• Season 19
• Season 20

Red Team's Craps Dish

Blue Team's Craps Dish

Red Team's Craps Dish

Blue Team's Craps Dish

Roulette Board in Season 8

Red Team's Craps Dish

Blue Team's Craps Dish

Red Team's Craps Dish

Blue Team's Craps Dish

La Tasha's Craps Dish

Bryant's Craps Dish

Sade's Craps Dish (Not Judged)

Kori's Craps Dish

Jordan's Craps Dish

Nikki's Craps Dish

Mary Lou's Craps Dish

Lauren's Craps Dish

Amber's Craps Dish

Marc's Craps Dish

Cody's Craps Dish

Adam's Craps Dish

Declan's Craps Dish

Emily's Black Jacket Dish

Kiya's Black Jacket Dish

Steve's Black Jacket Dish

Antonio's Black Jacket Dish

Megan's Black Jacket Dish