where is sam file stored in windows 7

The user passwords are stored in a hashed format in a registry hive either as a LM hash or as a NTLM hash. This file can be found in %SystemRoot%/system32/config/SAM and is mounted on HKLM/SAM.

Security Account Manager

The Security Account Manager (SAM), often Security Accounts Manager, is a database file[1] in Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 that stores users' passwords. It can be used to authenticate local and remote users. Beginning with Windows 2000 SP4, Active Directory authenticates remote users. SAM uses cryptographic measures to prevent unauthenticated users accessing the system.

In an attempt to improve the security of the SAM database against offline software cracking, Microsoft introduced the SYSKEY function in Windows NT 4.0. When SYSKEY is enabled, the on-disk copy of the SAM file is partially encrypted, so that the password hash values for all local accounts stored in the SAM are encrypted with a key (usually also referred to as the "SYSKEY"). It can be enabled by running the syskey program.[2]

Since a hash function is one-way, this provides some measure of security for the storage of the passwords.

In the case of online attacks, it is not possible to simply copy the SAM file to another location. The SAM file cannot be moved or copied while Windows is running, since the Windows kernel obtains and keeps an exclusive filesystem lock on the SAM file, and will not release that lock until the operating system has shut down or a "Blue Screen of Death" exception has been thrown. However, the in-memory copy of the contents of the SAM can be dumped using various techniques (including pwdump), making the password hashes available for offline brute-force attack.

LM hash is a compromised protocol and has been replaced by NTLM hash. Most versions of Windows can be configured to disable the creation and storage of valid LM hashes when the user changes their password. Windows Vista and later versions of Windows disable LM hash by default. Note: enabling this setting does not immediately clear the LM hash values from the SAM, but rather enables an additional check during password change operations that will instead store a "dummy" value in the location in the SAM database where the LM hash is otherwise stored. (This dummy value has no relationship to the user's password - it is the same value used for all user accounts.)

In Windows NT 3.51, NT 4.0 and 2000, an attack was devised to bypass the local authentication system. If the SAM file is deleted from the hard drive (e.g. mounting the Windows OS volume into an alternate operating system), the attacker could log in as any account with no password. This flaw was corrected with Windows XP, which shows an error message and shuts down the computer. However, there exist software utilities[3], which, by the aforementioned methodology of using either an emulated virtual drive, or boot disk (usually Unix/Linux, or another copy of Windows like Windows Preinstallation Environment) based environment to mount the local drive housing the active NTFS partition, and using programmed software routines and function calls from within assigned memory stacks to isolate the SAM file from the Windows NT system installation directory structure (default: %SystemRoot%/system32/config/SAM) and, depending on the particular software utility being used, removes the password hashes stored for user accounts in their entirety, or in some cases, modify the user account passwords directly from this environment.

This software has both a highly pragmatic and beneficial use as a password clearing or account recovering utility for individuals who have lost or forgotten their Windows account passwords, as well as a possible use as a malicious software security bypassing utility. Essentially granting a user with enough ability, experience, and familiarity with both the cracking utility software and the security routines of the Windows NT kernel (as well as offline and immediate local access to the target computer) the capability to entirely bypass or remove the windows account passwords from a potential target computer. Only recently, Microsoft released a utility called LockSmith, which is part of MSDart. MSDart is not freely available to end-users, however.


who controls the monetary policy of the eu

The European Central Bank (ECB; German: Europäische Zentralbank (EZB), French: Banque centrale européenne (BCE)) is the central bank for the euro and administers monetary policy of the eurozone, which consists of 19 EU member states and is one of the largest currency areas in the world. It is one of the world's most important central banks and is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) listed in the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The capital stock of the bank is owned by the central banks of all 28 EU member states.[2] The Treaty of Amsterdam established the bank in 1998, and it is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. As of 2015[update] the President of the ECB is Mario Draghi, former governor of the Bank of Italy, former member of the World Bank,[3] and former managing director of the Goldman Sachs international division (2002–2005).[3][4] The bank primarily occupied the Eurotower prior to, and during, the construction of the new headquarters.

European Central Bank

The primary objective of the ECB, mandated in Article 2 of the Statute of the ECB,[5] is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone. Its basic tasks, set out in Article 3 of the Statute,[5] are to set and implement the monetary policy for the Eurozone, to conduct foreign exchange operations, to take care of the foreign reserves of the European System of Central Banks and operation of the financial market infrastructure under the TARGET2 payments system and the technical platform (currently being developed) for settlement of securities in Europe (TARGET2 Securities). The ECB has, under Article 16 of its Statute,[5] the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the amount must be authorised by the ECB beforehand.

The ECB is governed by European law directly, but its set-up resembles that of a corporation in the sense that the ECB has shareholders and stock capital. Its capital is â‚¬11 billion held by the national central banks of the member states as shareholders.[2] The initial capital allocation key was determined in 1998 on the basis of the states' population and GDP, but the capital key has been adjusted.[2] Shares in the ECB are not transferable and cannot be used as collateral.

The European Central Bank is the de facto successor of the European Monetary Institute (EMI).[6] The EMI was established at the start of the second stage of the EU's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) to handle the transitional issues of states adopting the euro and prepare for the creation of the ECB and European System of Central Banks (ESCB).[6] The EMI itself took over from the earlier European Monetary Co-operation Fund (EMCF).[7]

The ECB formally replaced the EMI on 1 June 1998 by virtue of the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Treaty of Maastricht), however it did not exercise its full powers until the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999, signalling the third stage of EMU.[6] The bank was the final institution needed for EMU, as outlined by the EMU reports of Pierre Werner and President Jacques Delors. It was established on 1 June 1998.[8]

The first President of the Bank was Wim Duisenberg, the former president of the Dutch central bank and the European Monetary Institute.[8] While Duisenberg had been the head of the EMI (taking over from Alexandre Lamfalussy of Belgium) just before the ECB came into existence,[8] the French government wanted Jean-Claude Trichet, former head of the French central bank, to be the ECB's first president.[8] The French argued that since the ECB was to be located in Germany, its president should be French. This was opposed by the German, Dutch and Belgian governments who saw Duisenberg as a guarantor of a strong euro.[9] Tensions were abated by a gentleman's agreement in which Duisenberg would stand down before the end of his mandate, to be replaced by Trichet.[10]

Trichet replaced Duisenberg as President in November 2003.

There had also been tension over the ECB's Executive Board, with the United Kingdom demanding a seat even though it had not joined the Single Currency.[9] Under pressure from France, three seats were assigned to the largest members, France, Germany, and Italy; Spain also demanded and obtained a seat. Despite such a system of appointment the board asserted its independence early on in resisting calls for interest rates and future candidates to it.[9]

When the ECB was created, it covered a Eurozone of eleven members. Since then, Greece joined in January 2001, Slovenia in January 2007, Cyprus and Malta in January 2008, Slovakia in January 2009, Estonia in January 2011, Latvia in January 2014 and Lithuania in January 2015, enlarging the bank's scope and the membership of its Governing Council.[7]

On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, ECB according to the article 13 of TEU, gained official status of an EU institution.

In September 2011, when German appointee to the Governing Council and Executive board, Jürgen Stark, resigned in protest of the ECB's bond buying programme, Financial Times Deutschland called it "the end of the ECB as we know it" referring to its perceived "hawkish" stance on inflation and its historical Bundesbank influence.[11]

On 1 November 2011, Mario Draghi replaced Jean-Claude Trichet as President of the ECB.

In April 2011, the ECB raised interest rates for the first time since 2008 from 1% to 1.25%,[12] with a further increase to 1.50% in July 2011.[13] However, in 2012â€“2013 the ECB sharply lowered interest rates to encourage economic growth, reaching the historically low 0.25% in November 2013.[1] Soon after the rates were cut to 0.15%, then on 4 September 2014 the central bank reduced the rates by two thirds from 0.15% to 0.05%, the lowest rates on record.[14]

In November 2014, the bank moved into its new premises.

The primary objective of the European Central Bank, set out in Article 127(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone.[15] The Governing Council in October 1998[16] defined price stability as inflation of under 2%, “a year-on-year increase in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the euro area of below 2%” and added that price stability ”was to be maintained over the medium term”. (Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices)[17] Unlike for example the United States Federal Reserve Bank, the ECB has only one primary objective but this objective has never been defined in statutory law, and the HICP target can be termed ad-hoc.

The Governing Council confirmed this definition in May 2003 following a thorough evaluation of the ECB's monetary policy strategy. On that occasion, the Governing Council clarified that “in the pursuit of price stability, it aims to maintain inflation rates below, but close to, 2% over the medium term”.[16] All lending to credit institutions must be collateralised as required by Article 18 of the Statute of the ESCB.[18] The Governing Council clarification has little force in law.

Without prejudice to the objective of price stability, the Treaty also states that "the ESCB shall support the general economic policies in the Union with a view to contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Union".[19]

The basic tasks of the ECB are to define and implement the monetary policy for the Eurozone, to conduct foreign exchange operations, to take care of the foreign reserves of the European System of Central Banks and to promote smooth operation of the financial market infrastructure under the TARGET2 payments system[20] and being currently developed technical platform for settlement of securities in Europe (TARGET2 Securities).

Further tasks, among others, include the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the amount must be authorised by the ECB beforehand (upon the introduction of the euro, the ECB also had exclusive right to issue coins).[20] The ECB shall also collect statistical information to fulfil the tasks of the European System of Central Banks, and contribute to financial stability and supervision.

In U.S.-style central banking, the Federal Reserve System purchases Treasury securities in order to inject liquidity into the economy; the Eurosystem, on the other hand, uses a different method. There are about 1,500 eligible banks which may bid for short-term repo contracts of two weeks to three months duration.[21]

The banks in effect borrow cash and must pay it back; the short durations allow interest rates to be adjusted continually. When the repo notes come due the participating banks bid again. An increase in the quantity of notes offered at auction allows an increase in liquidity in the economy. A decrease has the contrary effect. The contracts are carried on the asset side of the European Central Bank's balance sheet and the resulting deposits in member banks are carried as a liability. In layman terms, the liability of the central bank is money, and an increase in deposits in member banks, carried as a liability by the central bank, means that more money has been put into the economy.[a]

To qualify for participation in the auctions, banks must be able to offer proof of appropriate collateral in the form of loans to other entities. These can be the public debt of member states, but a fairly wide range of private banking securities are also accepted.[22] The fairly stringent membership requirements for the European Union, especially with regard to sovereign debt as a percentage of each member state's gross domestic product, are designed to insure that assets offered to the bank as collateral are, at least in theory, all equally good, and all equally protected from the risk of inflation.[22]

The ECB has four decision-making bodies, that take all the decisions with the objective of fulfilling the ECB's mandate:

The Executive Board is responsible for the implementation of monetary policy (defined by the Governing Council) and the day-to-day running of the bank.[23] It can issue decisions to national central banks and may also exercise powers delegated to it by the Governing Council.[23] It is composed of the President of the Bank (currently Mario Draghi), the Vice-President (currently Vitor Constâncio) and four other members.[23] They are all appointed for non-renewable terms of eight years.[23] They are appointed "from among persons of recognised standing and professional experience in monetary or banking matters by common accord of the governments of the Member States at the level of Heads of State or Government, on a recommendation from the Council, after it has consulted the European Parliament and the Governing Council of the ECB".[24] The Executive Board normally meets every Tuesday.

José Manuel González-Páramo, a Spanish member of the Executive Board since June 2004, was due to leave the board in early June 2012 and no replacement had been named as of late May 2012.[25] The Spanish had nominated Barcelona-born Antonio Sáinz de Vicuña, an ECB veteran who heads its legal department, as González-Páramo's replacement as early as January 2012 but alternatives from Luxembourg, Finland, and Slovenia were put forward and no decision made by May.[26] After a long political battle, Luxembourg's Yves Mersch, was appointed as González-Páramo's replacement.[27]

The Governing Council is the main decision-making body of the Eurosystem.[28] It comprises the members of the Executive Board (six in total) and the governors of the National Central Banks of the euro area countries (19 as of 2015). Since January 2015 council minutes of the Council are published on internet,[29] before 2015 the fact that the Council's minutes were not published had raised controversy in some financial circles.

The General Council is a body dealing with transitional issues of euro adoption, for example, fixing the exchange rates of currencies being replaced by the euro (continuing the tasks of the former EMI).[23] It will continue to exist until all EU member states adopt the euro, at which point it will be dissolved.[23] It is composed of the President and vice-president together with the governors of all of the EU's national central banks.[31][32]

The Supervisory Board meets twice a month to discuss, plan and carry out the ECBâ€™s supervisory tasks.[33] It proposes draft decisions to the Governing Council under the non-objection procedure. It is composed of Chair (appointed for a non-renewable term of five years), Vice-Chair (chosen from among the members of the ECB's Executive Board) four ECB representatives and representatives of national supervisors. If the national supervisory authority designated by a Member State is not a national central bank (NCB), the representative of the competent authority can be accompanied by a representative from their NCB. In such cases, the representatives are together considered as one member for the purposes of the voting procedure.[33]

It also includes the Steering Committee, which supports the activities of the Supervisory Board and prepares the Boardâ€™s meetings. It is composed by the Chair of the Supervisory Board, Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board, one ECB representative and five representatives of national supervisors. The five representatives of national supervisors are appointed by the Supervisory Board for one year based on a rotation system that ensures a fair representation of countries.[33]

Current composition:[34]

Council of the EU

The ECB is governed by European law directly, but its set-up resembles that of a corporation in the sense that the ECB has shareholders and stock capital. Its initial capital was supposed to be €5 billion[35] and the initial capital allocation key was determined in 1998 on the basis of the member states' populations and GDP,[2][36] but the key is adjustable.[37] The euro area NCBs were required to pay their respective subscriptions to the ECB's capital in full. The NCBs of the non-participating countries have had to pay 7% of their respective subscriptions to the ECB's capital as a contribution to the operational costs of the ECB. As a result, the ECB was endowed with an initial capital of just under €4 billion.[citation needed] The capital is held by the national central banks of the member states as shareholders. Shares in the ECB are not transferable and cannot be used as collateral.[38] The NCBs are the sole subscribers to and holders of the capital of the ECB.

Today, ECB capital is about €11 billion, which is held by the national central banks of the member states as shareholders.[2] The NCBs’ shares in this capital are calculated using a capital key which reflects the respective member’s share in the total population and gross domestic product of the EU. The ECB adjusts the shares every five years and whenever a new country joins the EU. The adjustment is made on the basis of data provided by the European Commission.

All national central banks (NCBs) that own a share of the ECB capital stock as of 1 January 2015 are listed below. Non-Euro area NCBs are required to pay up only a very small percentage of their subscribed capital, which accounts for the different magnitudes of Euro area and Non-Euro area total paid-up capital.[2]

In addition to capital subscriptions, the NCBs of the member states participating in the euro area provided the ECB with foreign reserve assets equivalent to around €40 billion. The contributions of each NCB is in proportion to its share in the ECB's subscribed capital, while in return each NCB is credited by the ECB with a claim in euro equivalent to its contribution. 15% of the contributions was made in gold, and the remaining 85% in US dollars and Japanese yen.[citation needed]

The internal working language of the ECB is generally English, and press conferences are usually held in English. External communications are handled flexibly: English is preferred (though not exclusively) for communication within the ESCB (i.e. with other central banks) and with financial markets; communication with other national bodies and with EU citizens is normally in their respective language, but the ECB website is predominantly English; official documents such as the Annual Report are in the official languages of the EU.[39][40]

The European Central Bank (and by extension, the Eurosystem) is often considered as the "most independent central bank in the world".[41][42][43][44] In general terms, this means that the Eurosystem tasks and policies can be discussed, designed, decided and implemented in full autonomy, without pressure, or need for instructions from any external body. The main justification for the ECB independence is that such institutional setup helps maintaining price stability.[45][46]

In practice, the ECB's independence is pinned by four key principles:[47]

In addition to its independence, the ECB is subject to limited transparency obligations in contrast to EU Institutions standards and other major central banks. Indeed, as pointed out by Transparency International, "The Treaties establish transparency and openness as principles of the EU and its institutions. They do, however, grant the ECB a partial exemption from these principles. According to Art. 15(3) TFEU, the ECB is bound by the EU’s transparency principles “only when exercising [its] administrative tasks” (the exemption – which leaves the term “administrative tasks” undefined – equally applies to the Court of Justice of the European Union and to the European Investment Bank)."[51]

In practice, there are several concrete examples where the ECB is less transparent than other institutions:

In return to its high degree of independence and discretion, the ECB is accountable to the European Parliament (and to a lesser extent to the European Court of Auditors, the European Ombudsman and the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). In practice, this accountability involves five main mechanisms:

From late 2009 a handful of mainly southern eurozone member states started being unable to repay their national Euro-denominated government debt or to finance the bail-out of troubled financial sectors under their national supervision without the assistance of third parties. This so-called European debt crisis began after Greece's new elected government stopped masking its true indebtedness and budget deficit and openly communicated the imminent danger of a Greek sovereign default. Seeing a sovereign default in the eurozone as a shock, the general public, international and European institutions, and the financial community started to intensively reassess the economic situation and creditworthiness of eurozone states. Those eurozone states being assessed as not financially sustainable enough on their current path, faced waves of credit rating downgrades and rising borrowing costs including increasing interest rate spreads. As a consequence, the ability of these states to borrow new money to further finance their budget deficits or to refinance existing unsustainable debt levels was strongly reduced.[58][59][60][61][62][63][64]

The ECB has pronounced that the EU and its member states are in the main responsible for solving the fiscal crisis of some member states.[citation needed] Until 2009 there had not been sufficient instruments in place on the eurozone level to prevent or solve a debt crisis in a member state.[citation needed]
Several systems have been put into place since then to fill this gap:

Article 125 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU prohibits the financial bailout of other eurozone countries having problems to service their financial obligations.[65] The emergency set-up of the various eurozone rescue funds to help the crisis states to fulfill their obligations was to a certain degree a violation of the non-bailout clause, but it is documented that there were no alternatives that the eurozone states could agree on in this unforeseen debt crisis situation.[citation needed]

There is also a widespread view[vague][who?] that giving much more financial support to continuously cover the debt crisis or allow even higher budget deficits or debt levels would discourage the crisis states to implement necessary reforms to regain their competitiveness.[citation needed] There has also been a reluctance[citation needed] of financially stable eurozone states like Germany[citation needed] to further circumvent the no-bailout clause in the EU contracts and to generally take on the burden of financing or guaranteeing the debts of financially unstable or defaulting eurozone countries.[citation needed]

This has led to public discussions if Greece, Portugal, and even Italy would be better off leaving the eurozone to regain economical and financial stability if they would not implement reforms to strengthen their competitiveness as part of the eurozone in time. Greece had the greatest need for reforms but also most problems to implement those, so the Greek exit, also called "Grexit", has been widely discussed. Germany, as a large and financially stable state being in the focus to be asked to guarantee or repay other states debt, has never pushed those exits. Their position is to keep Greece within the eurozone, but not at any cost. If the worst comes to the worst, priority should be given to the euro's stability.[66][67][68]

There are a variety of possible responses to the problem of bad debts in a banking system. One is to induce debtors to make a greater effort to make good on their debt.[69] With public debt this usually means getting governments to maintain debt payments while cutting back on other forms of expenditure.[69] Such policies often involve cutting back on popular social programmes.[70]

Stringent policies with regard to social expenditures and employment in the state sector have led to riots and political protests in Greece.[71] Another response is to shift losses from the central bank to private investors who are asked to "share the pain" of partial defaults that take the form of rescheduling debt payments.[69]

However, if the debt rescheduling causes losses on loans held by European banks, it weakens the private banking system, which then puts pressure on the central bank to come to the aid of those banks. Private-sector bond holders are an integral part of the public and private banking system. Another possible response is for wealthy member countries to guarantee or purchase the debt of countries that have defaulted or are likely to default.[69] This alternative requires that the tax revenues and credit of the wealthy member countries be used to refinance the previous borrowing of the weaker member countries, and is politically controversial.[72]

In contrast to the Fed, the ECB normally does not buy bonds outright.[73] The normal procedure used by the ECB for manipulating the money supply has been via the so-called refinancing facilities. In these facilities, bonds are not purchased but used in reverse transactions: repurchase agreements, or collateralised loans. These two transactions are similar, i.e. bonds are used as collaterals for loans, the difference being of legal nature. In the repos the ownership of the collateral changes to the ECB until the loan is repaid.

This changed with the recent sovereign-debt crisis. The ECB always could, and through the late summer of 2011 did, purchase bonds issued by the weaker states even though it assumes, in doing so, the risk of a deteriorating balance sheet. ECB buying focused primarily on Spanish and Italian debt.[74] Certain techniques can minimise the impact. Purchases of Italian bonds by the central bank, for example, were intended to dampen international speculation and strengthen portfolios in the private sector and also the central bank.[75]

The assumption is that speculative activity will decrease over time and the value of the assets increase. Such a move is similar to what the US federal reserve did in buying subprime mortgages in the crisis of 2008, except in the European crisis, the purchases are of member state debt. The risk of such a move is that it could diminish the value of the currency.[76]

On the other hand, certain financial techniques can reduce the impact of such purchases on the currency.[76] One is sterilisation, in which highly valued assets are sold at the same time that the weaker assets are purchased, which keeps the money supply neutral.[76] Another technique is simply to accept the bad assets as long-term collateral (as opposed to short-term repo swaps) to be held until their market value stabilises. This would imply, as a quid pro quo, adjustments in taxation and expenditure in the economies of the weaker states to improve the perceived value of the assets.[76]

When the ECB buys bonds from other creditors such as European banks, the ECB does not disclose the transaction prices. Creditors profit of bargains with bonds sold at prices that exceed market's quotes.

As of 18 June 2012, the ECB in total had spent â‚¬212.1bn (equal to 2.2% of the Eurozone GDP) for bond purchases covering outright debt, as part of its Securities Markets Programme (SMP) running since May 2010.[77] On 6 September 2012, the ECB announced a new plan for buying bonds from eurozone countries.[78] The duration of the previous SMP was temporary,[79] while the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme has no ex-ante time or size limit.[80] On 4 September 2014, the bank went further by announcing it would buy bonds and other debt instruments primarily from banks in a bid to boost the availability of credit for businesses.[14]

The Emergency Lending Assistance (ELA) programme was designed for financial institutions in a liquidity crisis, such as the Greek banks in the course of the 2015 Greek financial snafu, when the banks experienced massive deposit flight.[81][82]

On 9 March 2015 the ECB started its quantitative easing programme, which was designed to ease sovereign stress in its member states. Purchases are initially €60bn per month and subsequently increased to €80bn per month. The program is expected to last until at least end of 2018.[83]

Though the ECB's main refinancing operations (MRO) are from repo auctions with a (bi)weekly maturity and monthly maturation, the ECB now conducts long-term refinancing operations (LTROs), maturing after three months, six months, 12 months and 36 months. In 2003, refinancing via LTROs amounted to 45 bln euro which is about 20% of overall liquidity provided by the ECB.[84]

The ECB's first supplementary longer-term refinancing operation (LTRO) with a six-month maturity was announced March 2008.[85] Previously the longest tender offered was three months.[86] It announced two 3-month and one 6-month full allotment of Long Term Refinancing Operations (LTROs). The first tender was settled 3 April, and was more than four times oversubscribed. The €25 billion auction drew bids amounting to €103.1 billion, from 177 banks. Another six-month tender was allotted on 9 July, again to the amount of €25 billion. The first 12-month LTRO in June 2009 had close to 1100 bidders.[87]

On 21 December 2011 the bank instituted a programme of making low-interest loans with a term of three years (36 months) and 1% interest to European banks accepting loans from the portfolio of the banks as collateral. Loans totalling €489.2 bn (US$640 bn) were announced. The loans were not offered to European states, but government securities issued by European states would be acceptable collateral as would mortgage-backed securities and other commercial paper that can be demonstrated to be secure. The programme was announced on 8 December 2011 but observers were surprised by the volume of the loans made when it was implemented.[88][89][90] Under its LTRO it loaned €489bn to 523 banks for an exceptionally long period of three years at a rate of just one percent.[91] The by far biggest amount of €325bn was tapped by banks in Greece, Ireland, Italy and Spain.[92] This way the ECB tried to make sure that banks have enough cash to pay off €200bn of their own maturing debts in the first three months of 2012, and at the same time keep operating and loaning to businesses so that a credit crunch does not choke off economic growth. It also hoped that banks would use some of the money to buy government bonds, effectively easing the debt crisis.[93]

On 29 February 2012, the ECB held a second 36-month auction, LTRO2, providing eurozone banks with further €529.5 billion in low-interest loans.[94] This second long term refinancing operation auction saw 800 banks take part. This can be compared with the 523 banks that took part in the first auction on 21 December 2011.[95] Net new borrowing under the February auction was around €313 billion – out of a total of €256bn existing ECB lending €215bn was rolled into LTRO2.[95]

The European debt crisis has revealed some relative weaknesses in the sovereign debt of such member countries as Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain.[96]

Rescue operations involving sovereign debt have included temporarily moving bad or weak assets off the balance sheets of the weak member banks into the balance sheets of the European Central Bank.[97] Such action is viewed as monetisation and can be seen as an inflationary threat, whereby the strong member countries of the ECB shoulder the burden of monetary expansion (and potential inflation) to save the weak member countries.[97] Most central banks prefer to move weak assets off their balance sheets with some kind of agreement as to how the debt will continue to be serviced.[97] This preference has typically led the ECB to argue that the weaker member countries must:

The European Central Bank had stepped up the buying of member nations debt.[98] In response to the crisis of 2010, some proposals have surfaced for a collective European bond issue that would allow the central bank to purchase a European version of US Treasury bills.[99][100] To make European sovereign debt assets more similar to a US Treasury, a collective guarantee of the member states' solvency would be necessary.[b] But the German government has resisted this proposal, and other analyses indicate that "the sickness of the euro" is due to the linkage between sovereign debt and failing national banking systems. If the European central bank were to deal directly with failing banking systems sovereign debt would not look as leveraged relative to national income in the financially weaker member states.[100]

On 17 December 2010, the ECB announced that it was going to double its capitalisation.[101] (The ECB's most recent balance sheet before the announcement listed capital and reserves at €2.03 trillion.)[102] The 16 central banks of the member states would transfer assets to the ledger of the ECB.

In 2011, the European member states may need to raise as much as US$2Â trillion in debt.[101] Some of this will be new debt and some will be previous debt that is "rolled over" as older loans reach maturity. In either case, the ability to raise this money depends on the confidence of investors in the European financial system.[102] The ability of the European Union to guarantee its members' sovereign debt obligations have direct implications for the core assets of the banking system that support the Euro.[101]

The bank must also co-operate within the EU and internationally with third bodies and entities. Finally, it contributes to maintaining a stable financial system and monitoring the banking sector.[103] The latter can be seen, for example, in the bank's intervention during the subprime mortgage crisis when it loaned billions of euros to banks to stabilise the financial system.[104] In December 2007, the ECB decided in conjunction with the Federal Reserve System under a programme called Term auction facility to improve dollar liquidity in the eurozone and to stabilise the money market.[105]

In late May 2012, looking ahead to further challenges with Greece, Bundesbank chief and ECB council member Jens Weidmann pointed out that the council could veto "emergency liquidity assistance" (ELA) to, for instance, Greece through a twoâ€“third majority of the council. If Greece chose to default on its debts yet wanted to stay in the Euro, the ELA would be one of the ways to accommodate the country's and its banks' liquidity needs or, alternatively, to precipitate departure.[25]

On 31 October 2012, the ECB announced it had phased out as planned the Covered Bond Purchase programme, which was one of the crisis measures aimed at supporting the shaky banking system of the 17-country eurozone.[106][107]

On Wednesday, February 24, 2016, as part of the Bundesbank's annual news conference, Bundesbank president and European Central Bank Governing Council member, Jens Weidmann, dismissed deflation in light of the ECB's current stimulus program, pointing out the healthy condition of the German economy and that the euro area isn't that bad off, on the eve of the March 9â€“10, 2016 meetings.[108]

On 9 May 2010, the 27 member states of the European Union agreed to incorporate the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).[109] The EFSF's mandate is to safeguard financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to Eurozone Member States.[109]

The EFSF is authorised to use the following instruments linked to appropriate conditionality:

The EFSF is backed by guarantee commitments from the Eurozone member states for a total of €780bn and has a lending capacity of €440bn.[109] In 2011, it was assigned the best possible credit rating (AAA by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings, Aaa by Moody's)[109]

The principal monetary policy tool of the European central bank is collateralised borrowing or repo agreements.[69] These tools are also used by the United States Federal Reserve Bank, but the Fed does more direct purchasing of financial assets than its European counterpart.[110] The collateral used by the ECB is typically high quality public and private sector debt.[69]

The criteria for determining "high quality" for public debt have been preconditions for membership in the European Union: total debt must not be too large in relation to gross domestic product, for example, and deficits in any given year must not become too large.[76] Though these criteria are fairly simple, a number of accounting techniques may hide the underlying reality of fiscal solvencyâ€”or the lack of same.[76]

In central banking, the privileged status of the central bank is that it can make as much money as it deems needed.[111] In the United States Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Reserve buys assets: typically, bonds issued by the Federal government.[111] There is no limit on the bonds that it can buy and one of the tools at its disposal in a financial crisis is to take such extraordinary measures as the purchase of large amounts of assets such as commercial paper.[111] The purpose of such operations is to ensure that adequate liquidity is available for functioning of the financial system.[111]

Think-tanks such as the World Pensions Council have also argued that European legislators have pushed somewhat dogmatically for the adoption of the Basel II recommendations, adopted in 2005, transposed in European Union law through the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), effective since 2008. In essence, they forced European banks, and, more importantly, the European Central Bank itself e.g. when gauging the solvency of financial institutions, to rely more than ever on standardised assessments of credit risk marketed by two non-European private agencies: Moody's and S&P.

The bank is based in Ostend (East End), Frankfurt am Main. The city is the largest financial centre in the Eurozone and the bank's location in it is fixed by the Amsterdam Treaty.[112] The bank moved to new purpose-built headquarters in 2014 that were designed by a Vienna-based architectural office, Coop Himmelbau.[113] The building is approximately 180 metres (591 ft) tall and will be accompanied with other secondary buildings on a landscaped site on the site of the former wholesale market in the eastern part of Frankfurt am Main. The main construction began in October 2008,[113][114] and it was expected that the building will become an architectural symbol for Europe. While it was designed to accommodate double the number of staff who operate in the former Eurotower,[115] that building has been retained since the ECB took responsibility for banking supervision and more space was hence required.[116]


who is the author of junie b jones

Park was the daughter of a merchant and a secretary, Doris and Brooke Tidswell. She grew up in Mount Holly Township, New Jersey.[1] From 1965 to 1967, she attended Rider College, later finishing her B.S. in 1969 at the University of Alabama. She married Richard A. Park in 1969. She lived in Phoenix, Arizona for almost 30 years and had two sons, Steven and David. She was the author of the popular Junie B. Jones children's series. The Junie B. Jones series was focused on young readers and included around 30 different books. The series has sold over 55 million copies in North America alone.[2] She won seven Children's Choice Awards, and four Parents' Choice Awards. She also wrote many middle grade novels, such as The Kid in the Red Jacket.

Barbara Park

Barbara Lynne Park (April 21, 1947 â€“ November 15, 2013) was an American author of children's books.

Park died on November 15, 2013, at her home in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the age of 66 after a long battle with ovarian cancer.[3][4][5]


where is the little boy from problem child

In 2015 it was reported that Oliver was happy with his private life away from the celebrity scene and had said he was enjoying "a nice, quiet existence" although he expressed he was grateful for the time he had spent in the spotlight as a child star.[3]

Michael Oliver (actor)

Michael Ponce Oliverius (born October 10, 1981) is an American former child actor of the 1990s better known by his stage name Michael Oliver. Oliver is best known for his role as "Junior" in the first two Problem Child movies.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Oliver's career started at the age of 2. His first job was as a model in a Sears catalog. At age 6, he appeared in a Chevron commercial where he wore glasses and had his voice dubbed over. After seeing Oliver in the Chevron commercial, a casting agent for the film Problem Child tracked Oliver down and cast him in the role days later.

When Problem Child was released in 1990, Oliver's appearance reminded people of a young Ron Howard as "Opie Taylor" in the Andy Griffith Show.[1] It became a "surprise hit,"[2] spawned two sequels and an animated series. Problem Child 2 followed in 1991; however, the script was considered not par with the original and repeatedly resorted to adult language, thus limiting the film's overall appeal.[2]

On a 2011 episode of the radio show Loveline, Oliver called in while Problem Child co-star Gilbert Gottfried was guest hosting. It was the first time they had spoken to each other since filming Problem Child 2.[citation needed]

On Saturday, June 4, 2016, Oliver married his longtime girlfriend Magnolia in Beverly Hills, California.[4]

After completion of Problem Child 2, Universal Pictures sued Oliver's manager-mother Dianne Ponce for extorting his acting contract with the studio. Universal Pictures alleged that, on the eve of filming, Ponce threatened to remove her son from production unless his payment for the film was raised from $80,000 to $500,000.

A Superior Court jury ruled that the contract was unenforceable, Universal Pictures having entered into it under duress, and that Ponce and Oliver were obliged to return the difference between the $250,000 Universal had thus far paid and the $80,000 originally negotiated.[5][6][7][8]


who plays joe in bend it like beckham

Whilst on a jog through the park, Jules discovers Jess's skills, befriends her, and invites her to try out for the local women's football team, the Hounslow Harriers coached by Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Jess is extremely happy and excited about the tryouts, even though Joe is sceptical about a new player joining the team. After seeing Jess's skills, Joe accepts her on the team and Jess lies to Joe about her parents being cool with the idea.

Bend It Like Beckham

Bend It Like Beckham is a 2002 British-German family romantic comedy sports film produced, written and directed by Gurinder Chadha, and starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anupam Kher, Shaznay Lewis and Archie Panjabi.

The film's title refers to the football player David Beckham, and his skill at scoring from free kicks by curling the ball past a wall of defenders. It follows the 18-year-old daughter of Punjabi Sikhs in London. She is infatuated with football but her parents have forbidden her to play because she is a girl. She joins a local women's team, which makes its way to the top of the league.

Bend It Like Beckham was released theatrically on 12 April 2002 by Redbus Film Distribution, and on DVD and VHS on 18 November 2002 by Warner Home Video. The film surprised critics and was met with mostly positive reviews. It earned over $76 million on a $6 million budget. A stage musical version opened at London's Phoenix Theatre on 24 June 2015.[3]

Jesminder "Jess" Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) is the 18-year-old daughter of Punjabi Sikhs living in Hounslow, London. Juliette "Jules" Paxton (Keira Knightley) is the same age and the daughter of a native English family. Jess is infatuated with football, but because she is a woman, her conservative family won't let her play. However, she sometimes plays in the park with boys, including her best friend, Tony (Ameet Chana), a closeted gay man.

Jess's parents (Anupam Kher and Shaheen Khan) eventually discover that Jess has been playing football behind their backs. They become more strict and forbid Jess to play in any more matches. The elder Bhamras are also distracted by their elaborate wedding plans for Jess's older sister, Pinky (Archie Panjabi). Thanks to the skills of Jess and Jules, the Harriers reach the finals of the league tournament. Unfortunately, the finals and Pinky's wedding fall on the same day.

Joe pleads with Mr Bhamra to allow Jess to play, but Mr Bhamra refuses, which reveals that he does not want Jess to suffer the way he did when he was excluded from a cricket club because of being Indian. Jess develops an attraction toward Joe, and when the team plays in Hamburg, Germany and goes out clubbing, they're caught by Jules when about to kiss. Jules also has a crush on Joe, and this sours the two girls' friendship, as Jules is adamant that she had told Jess about her crush. When Jess goes to Jules's house to try to patch up their friendship, Jules's mother (Juliet Stevenson) is misled and thinks they're hiding a lesbian relationship.

Joe accepts that Jess is not allowed to play and the final begins without her. But halfway through Pinky's wedding, Tony convinces Mr Bhamra to let Jess go. He agrees, and Tony drives Jess to the game, where the Harriers are losing 1â€“0 with half an hour left. Jess and Jules tie the score, and when Jess is awarded a free kick, she must bend the ball around the wall of players to score. She succeeds and the Harriers win the tournament. Jess and Jules are offered sports scholarships at Santa Clara University in California, which Jules tells her parents immediately, whereas Jess has trouble telling hers. Jules and her mother arrive at Pinky's wedding so that Jules can celebrate with Jess. When Mrs Paxton accuses Jess of being a hypocrite and a lesbian, Jules grabs her mother and runs off in shame.

Jess has still not told her parents about the scholarship â€“ she is afraid they might not allow her to go to the United States on her own. Tony, out of friendship for Jess, decides to lie to the family and tell them he is engaged to Jess as long as she gets to go to any college she wants. Jess reveals the lie and her mother blames Jess's father for allowing her to play. Jess's father convinces her mother to accept Jess's wishes after telling her he doesn't want Jess to suffer as he did. Jess flees to the football field to tell Joe of her parents' decision. The two almost kiss, but Jess pulls away, saying her parents would object, and that although they had come far enough to let her go to America to play, she doesn't think they would be able to handle another cultural rebellion from her.

On the day of Jess and Jules's flight to America, Jules's mother gives her daughter a football jersey and wishes her good luck, this being her way of telling her daughter that she has accepted Jules's decision. The two are about to board the plane when Joe arrives and confesses his love for Jess. The two kiss and Jess agrees to sort out their relationship (and her parents) when she returns for Christmas. While at the airport, they see David Beckham with his wife Victoria, which Jules takes as a sign. Jess and Jules send their parents a team photograph, and it is revealed that Pinky is pregnant. Finally, Mr Bhamra is seen practising cricket with Joe's help.

Gurinder Chadha co-wrote the script with Guljit Bindra and screenwriting partner Paul Mayeda Berges. Nayar and Chadha actively pursued financing for the film at Sundance Film Festival. Having previously worked with Road Movies, a German production company on several other projects, Nayar approached them and they came on board, followed by British Screen and The Film Council.

Helkon SK, formerly known as Redbus, picked up the script. Fox Searchlight Pictures picked up the rights for distribution in the United States at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002.[4]

Principal photography began on 18 June 2001. A variety of locations around London and Shepperton Studios were used for the nine-week shoot, with the semi-final taking place over a three-day period in Hamburg, Germany.[4]

Chadha, who played an active role in casting, chose Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley, who would play the two lead roles in the film, while Archie Panjabi and Jonathan Rhys Meyers were in early talks to join the cast. Shaznay Lewis and Anupam Kher were also in final talks. Juliet Stevenson and Frank Harper joined as Paula Paxton and Alan Paxton, mother and father of Jules.

For the role of Jess's mother, Mrs Bhamra, Chadha turned to Shaheen Khan, whom she had previously cast in Bhaji on the Beach. Anupam Kher, a Bollywood actor, was cast as Mr Bhamra, Jess's father. Chadha worked with The Football Association and ended up casting actual players from a variety of school teams.[4]

Bend It Like Beckham was released theatrically on 12 April 2002 by Redbus Film Distribution. The film then received a limited theatrical release in the United States on 12 March 2003, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. When originally released in the United Kingdom, it topped the country's box office for the next three weekends, before being overtaken by About a Boy.[5][6]

The film was released on DVD and VHS on 18 November 2002 by Warner Home Video. Among the DVD bonus features, there are several scenes that did not make the final release. Some include dialogue from Pinky's friends and from Jules, as well as her mother meeting Kevin and his friends outside a shop, which would have been helpful, as Kevin is mentioned three times but is never seen.

The film surprised critics and met with mostly positive reviews. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times noted that the film "was really full of easy humor, an impeccable sense of milieu that is the result of knowing the culture intimately enough to poke fun at it while understanding its underlying integrity."[7]

The Times of India noted the film's social context, saying, "[it] is really about the bending of rules, social paradigms and lives â€“ all to finally curl that ball, bending it like Beckham, through the goalpost of ambition.... The creeping divide shows that Britain is changing, but hasn't quite changed yet. The stiff upper lip has travelled miles from the time Chadha's father was denied a pint at some pubs at Southall, but like dollops of coagulated spice in badly stirred curry, discrimination crops up to spoil the taste, every now and then, in multi-racial Britain."[8]

Planet Bollywood gave the film a mark of 9 out of 10: the "screenplay not only explores the development of Jesse as a person, but also the changing values and culture of NRI teens: Jesse's urge to break the social norm of the Indian home-maker, her sister's (Archie Punjabi) sexually active relationship, and the gay Indian [Tony, played by Ameet Chana]."[9]

The Hindu argued, "If ever there is a film that is positive, realistic and yet delightful, then it has to be Dream Production's latest venture directed by Gurinder Chadha.... Light-hearted, without taking away the considerable substance in terms of values, attitudes and the love for sport, the film just goes to prove that there are ways to be convincing and honest."[10]

The BBC gave it 4 out of 5 stars, and argued that "Mr Beckham ought to be proud to have his name on such a great film."[11] Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives Bend It like Beckham a rating of 85 per cent based upon 147 reviews (125 fresh and 22 rotten).[12] The British film was distributed by iDream Productions in India,[13] and went on to set the record in India for most number of tickets sold during a single weekend for a foreign movie.

Bend It Like Beckham also became the highest grossing Indian-themed film ever in the United States, with $32Â million in box office revenue.[14]

The release of the soundtrack in the United Kingdom features bhangra music, and songs by the Spice Girls' Victoria Beckham and Melanie C and rock band Texas. It also features "Baddest Ruffest" by Backyard Dog, the aria Nessun Dorma, from Puccini's Turandot and excerpts from dance band Basement Jaxx. The USA release rearranges the tracks and excludes some material. "Dream the Dream" appears in the movie but did not make the final cut on the soundtrack.

To mark the tenth anniversary of North Korea's relations with the United Kingdom, an edited version of Bend It Like Beckham was broadcast on North Korean state television on 26 December 2010, Boxing Day. The British Ambassador to South Korea, Martin Uden, said it was the "first ever Western-made film to air on television" in North Korea.[16]

A stage musical version of the film opened at London's Phoenix Theatre in June 2015.[3]


who won season 12 of hell's kitchen

Executive Chef Scott Commings won this season and received a head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas; the prize was retained from the previous season, after Ja'Nel Witt failed her drug test.[1] Scott was nominated seven times for elimination, breaking Christina Machamer's record (season 4) of five nominations, and became the Hell's Kitchen winner with the most nominations.

Hell's Kitchen (U.S. season 12)

Season 12 of the American competitive reality television series Hell's Kitchen premiered on March 13, 2014 on Fox.

Gordon Ramsay returned as the head chef as well as Andi Van Willigan and James Avery as the red team's and blue team's sous chefs respectively. Jean-Philippe Susilovic also returned as the maître d'. This was the fourth season to feature an all-male final (following seasons 1, 6, and 9).

The intro is stylized as a neo-noir comic book with the chefs each trying to claim hold of "The Knife Case of Destiny."

Twenty chefs competed in season 12. Jason Zepaltas previously competed in season 9 but left before the first dinner service after felling ill during prep. He is the second chef to have competed in two seasons, after Robert Hesse (seasons 5 and 6), and Zepaltas was the first and only chef (other than the All-Star season) to present two signature dishes to Ramsay.

â€  Indicates that the contestant died after filming ended

20 chefs were taken on a bus to Hell's Kitchen. Chef Ramsay greeted them and mentioned that Los Angeles is known not only for its cuisine, but for its entertainment. Cooks and diners then danced to the show's theme song while Ramsay had the chefs go to the kitchen for their first challenge.

Team challenge/signature dish: The women competed against the men and had 45 minutes to create their signature dish, judged by Ramsay.[4] Ramsay gave points to Anton's pork and crabmeat crust surf and turf over Simone's Peach and Crab Apple chutney pork chop, Jason's seared and braised wild salmon over Nicole's halibut filet (Jason previously competed in Season 9, but left during the first episode after he was hospitalized for shortness of breath. He stated that this was caused by dehydration), Chris' Cornish hen over Joy's chilled corn soup, Kashia's New York strip over Mike's herb-fried tortellini with romesco sauce. During the judging, Mike revealed that the tortellini was store-bought, and the sauce was made with canned tomatoes. Ramsay, disgusted, dumped out his dish. When sent back in line, Mike muttered an insult, causing Chef Ramsay to pull him back out and berate him. Melanie's pan-seared scallops scored over Richard's pan-roasted sea bass and Bev's Southeast Asian-style fish tacos scored over Gabriel's stuffed chicken breast. Neither Gaurav's afreen tuna pulao or Sandra's tender cod filet scored a point, Beth's pecan-crusted catfish scored over DeMarco's ricotta gnocchi with roasted tomato creme and sausage and Ralph's New England lobster dish scored over Rochelle's mushroom chicken with asparagus. Lastly, Jessica's rosemary-crusted venison loin with goat cheese polenta scored over Scott's herb-roasted rack of lamb, giving the women a 5â€“4 win and marking the third consecutive season the women won the signature dish challenge.

Reward/punishment: The women had dinner with Ramsay at his GastroPub while the men prepped the dining room and the kitchens. Mike sat out of the punishment, angering his teammates since he was responsible for their loss.

Service: Chris and Melanie served tableside chicken Caesar salad. No appetizers were served; in the blue kitchen, DeMarco overcooked lobster, Gabriel served uneven scallops and Gaurav served soupy and peppery risotto, angering Ramsay when he tasted with his fingers. In the red kitchen, Joy, Nicole and Sandra struggled to work together and argued over a lack of communication, causing Ramsay to kick them out. Both teams were kicked out when both Gabriel and Kashia overcooked scallops. Ramsay noted it as the worst opening service in the show's history (Followed by Season 1 Episode 3 and Season 11 Episode 13 with their worst services). The first time since Season 8 both teams lost in opening night.

Elimination: The women nominated Sandra and Nicole while the men nominated Gaurav and DeMarco. Ramsay eliminated Gaurav for his poor performance on appetizers and nonchalant attitude.

The chefs were woken up by bikers performing stunts inside a spherical cage.

Team challenge: The chefs worked in pairs in a "chef's relay", where they pedaled tricycles to a cooking area and aimed to finish prepping all five areas first. Since the men had one less member, Gabriel went twice. DeMarco and Richard finished before Kashia and Bev cleaning shrimp, Jessica and Beth finished before Anton and Chris breaking down chicken, Jason and Gabriel passed Melanie and Simone cleaning oysters, Mike and Scott finished before Sandra and Nicole filleting trout and Ralph and Gabriel finished before Joy and Rochelle making egg white omelets, giving the men their first challenge win.

Reward/punishment: The men had a meal with Ramsay in San Francisco and enjoyed a city tour on Segways. The women picked carrots and made stock. During punishment, Nicole's quiet behavior gets on Kashia's nerve, leading to an argument about the former's lack of passion.

Service: Mike and Sandra served tableside oysters, but Mike inadvertently served a couple of red tables. In the blue kitchen, Jason served bland risotto and DeMarco cooked tuna in a cold pan on appetizers, but both recovered. Scott and Gabriel mixed up cooking times on entrees, and after Scott served raw halibut and Gabriel served raw chicken twice, Ramsay threw the men out. In the red kitchen, Simone and Nicole failed to serve an appetizer and were thrown out, and though Kashia did well on meat, Beth struggled on lobster and served raw halibut, causing Ramsay to throw the women out. Ramsay again named both teams losers.

Elimination: The men nominated DeMarco and Gabriel while the women nominated Beth and Simone. However, Ramsay overruled and eliminated Nicole, feeling her negative attitude and lack of passion, cooking ability, fight back and leadership outweighed the mistakes made by the four nominees.

The chefs were woken up by pigs running through the dorms; each chef carried a pig outside.

Team challenge: The teams had to dig up potatoes, three chefs a time, until one team reached 100 pounds. While the women's blue team won that part of the challenge, they were then informed it was not all of it, they also had to create potato dishes. Each team then picked five dishes for Ramsay to rate from 1–5. Jessica's sweet potato succotash and Richard's Irish Colcannon both scored 4, Sandra's Pancetta Sofrito and Ralph's potato salad both scored 3, Jason's potato gratin scored 4 while Bev's potato hash scored 2 and Melanie's gnocchi scored 4 while Mike's boulangère scored 1. Lastly, Scott's potato souffle scored 4, but Joy's pierogi scored 5, giving the women an 18–16 victory.

Reward/punishment: The women had a private dinner on a yacht while the men had to clean the livestock. During dinner service prep, DeMarco cut himself and was sent to urgent care and Rochelle fell sick. Simone also fell unwell, but her team believed she was faking it.

Service: Kashia and Ralph served tableside Steak Diane. Guests in attendance for this service include Senen "Sen Dog" Reyes and EC Twins. Anton and Joy did well on appetizers, but both teams struggled on fish; Jessica and Simone were kicked out after serving raw fish, and Chris and Mike were unable to work together. Chris served halibut with no crust and DeMarco, who returned mid-service, poorly sliced chicken. Ramsay threw the men out when Scott and Chris mixed up cooking times and the women after Bev served raw fish; this was the third service in a row where both teams lost, marking the worst service start in the show's history. For the first time in Hell's Kitchen history, Ramsay had the teams nominate three chefs for elimination.

Elimination: The women nominated Simone, Rochelle, and Sandra while the men nominated Mike, DeMarco, and Chris. Ramsay called Simone, Mike and DeMarco forward, had them remove their jackets and gave them ten seconds to plead their cases. But as Ramsay went to announce his decision, Simone immediately volunteered to leave the competition, marking the third voluntary exit at elimination (after Ji from Season 5 and Joseph from Season 6). Before sending the chefs back, Ramsay gave DeMarco and Mike back their jackets.

Ramsay dumped about 200,000 pennies ($2,000) on the floor to give the contestants a lesson on consistency, representing how much money was wasted last service. He then taught them how to make ravioli.

Team challenge: The chefs made ravioli dishes in pairs; the first team to make ten approved dishes would win. The pairs for the red team are Melanie and Jessica, Kaisha and Sandra, Bev and Rochelle, and Beth and Joy. The pairs for the blue team are Jason and Scott, Ralph and Richard, Chris and Anton, and DeMarco Gabriel and Mike, since the blue has an extra member. The men raced to a 6–0 lead, but the women caught up, mainly thanks to Jessica and Melanie. With the teams at a 9–9 tie, DeMarco, Gabriel, and Mike, whom struggled, finally submitted a dish, but it was rejected, allowing the women to pass with their tenth dish and win their third challenge.

Reward/punishment: The women were rewarded with a day at a Beverly Hills mansion. The men prepped both kitchens in addition to wrapping pennies.

Service: Ramsay announced this service will host steak night. Beth, Rochelle, Gabriel and Scott served tableside salad and chopped ribs. Guests in attendance were Sharon Case, Suzanne Whang and Vanessa Marcil. In the red kitchen, Bev served salty risotto, but Joy and Melanie did well on appetizers and meat. In the blue kitchen, Ralph ignored Mike on the ravioli station, causing Ramsay to scold them both, Mike served risotto with no lobster and after Richard and Ralph served cold crab cakes and watery ravioli, Ramsay forced them to eat it. Anton did well on appetizers, but Chris undercooked fillets. After the women finished service, Ramsay had them help the men, where Jason was scolded for needlessly arguing with Sandra.

Elimination: Mike and DeMarco were nominated. Mike pleaded to be sent to the red team, but Ramsay eliminated him for his lack of passion, contribution, and for consistently being a poor performer

Team challenge: The chefs played a variant of Concentration where they had to match side dishes with four different types of protein (pork chop, swordfish, ahi tuna and chicken breast) in pairs. Melanie/Rochelle and Anton/Richard both scored on chicken breast, Chris and DeMarco scored over Jessica and Kashia on pork, Sandra and Beth scored over Jason and Gabriel on ahi tuna and Joy and Bev scored over Scott and Ralph on swordfish, giving the women their third straight challenge win.

Reward/punishment: The women spent a day at Laguna Beach. The men prepped honey taffy from scratch. Before prep, DeMarco told the blue team that his father walked out on him when he was 6 months old.

Service: A brunch service was set up as part of the first-ever Hell's Kitchen wedding, with the faster team winning service. The women served the bride's family, the men served the groom's family, and both did the wedding party's table. Rochelle and Scott got fruit salads out quickly, but Beth burst an egg and burnt bread, while Ralph cooked in a cold pan. Beth then served a raw egg, as did DeMarco after the egg was cooked by Ralph. Both teams got to the final ticket, but the women finished first due to Gabriel and Richard's slow performance on scrambled eggs, giving them the win and the men the worst start in Hell's Kitchen's history with five consecutive service losses.

Elimination: DeMarco and Gabriel were nominated; Ramsay also nominated Richard. Ramsay eliminated DeMarco for his lack of improvement, being nominated five consecutive times (the longest streak of nominations in the show's history, soon to be tied with season 14's Josh Trovato),  and saying he ran out of chances.

Team captain nomination: No challenge took place; Ramsay asked both teams to choose a Team Captain for dinner service. Melanie and Anton were chosen. Melanie stated she would lead from the fish station, while Anton stated he would 'float' around stations to lead.

Service: Ramsay put the team captains to the test when he announced the VIP guests for the chef's table with the red team cooking for Elizabeth Perkins and the blue team cooking for Holly Marie Combs. Joy argued with Sandra for not communicating and Beth struggled. Melanie, whose leadership was largely ineffectual, ruined an otherwise complete order with raw fish. Anton's leadership, meanwhile, was fairly overzealous though seemingly more effective. Jason performed well on meat. Chris struggled on scallops, including one Anton served for the chef's table, but recovered. Scott had communication issues despite cooking fish perfectly. Both teams completed service; Ramsay gave the men their first service win and praised Anton's leadership.

Elimination: Beth and Sandra were nominated. Ramsay polled them, and though all except Jessica said Sandra should go home, Ramsay eliminated Beth for her lack of leadership and confidence, being out of her depth, and for consistently poor performances.

Team challenge: The teams had to cook four gourmet pizzas to be rated from 1–10 by Ramsay and Wolfgang Puck. Each team had three pairs and a solo chef and told not to serve their weakest pizzas; the men did not serve Jason and Chris' pizza, while the women decided Bev and Kashia's was weakest, despite their protesting that Joy and Jessica's pizza (which was very small and simple after Joy accidentally dropped their original pizza on the floor) was worse. Rochelle scored 5, while Ralph scored 3. Joy and Jessica scored 4, while Gabriel and Scott scored 5. Lastly, Melanie and Sandra scored 3, but Anton and Richard scored 7, giving the men a 15–12 win; Bev and Kashia's pizza would have also scored 7.

Reward/punishment: The men were rewarded with a day at a rooftop swimming pool and a session with a yoga instructor. The women made pasta for Italian family night in addition to prepping both kitchens.

Service: Both teams struggled on pizzas during family night. Bev undercooked and burned the pizzas and Sandra rolled the bases too thick. Rochelle also served scallops with no color but thanks to Joy, the women completed service, serving the order for Ramsay's family. In the blue kitchen, Chris struggled on pizzas and Scott made the situation worse, even with more help from Gabriel, they only served ten pizzas before running out. Anton accidentally spilled oil on the fish station, causing a fire, and Ralph undercooked and poorly cut meat. Thanks to Jason, the men finished service. Ramsay named the women winners for having a more consistent service.

Elimination: Chris and Scott were nominated; Ramsay also nominated Ralph. Ramsay eliminated Chris for consistently wasting pizza dough and mediocre performances.

Team challenge: The teams had to cook sampler dishes for attendees of a dinner honoring the 160th anniversary of the Phi Mu sorority. Each team had to serve a chicken, seafood and beef entree. The women did well under Kashia's leadership, while the men wasted over ten minutes deliberating, barely finishing on time. The men scored on chicken, but the women won 2â€“1 by scoring on seafood and beef.

Reward/punishment: The women were rewarded with a shopping spree and a meal with Hell's Kitchen Season 10 winner Christina Wilson in Las Vegas. The men prepped the dining room under the sorority's party committee's direction.

Service: Gabriel and Richard put in strong performances on appetizers and garnish despite having communication issues with Scott, who was cooking meat perfectly. Jason served raw chicken twice, requiring Anton and Gabriel to help him. In the red kitchen, Bev undercooked crab cakes and Kashia and Jessica struggled on fried chicken, serving it raw and arguing over who was at fault. They eventually served it, but Bev struggled on garnish, causing Rochelle to take over. Both teams finished service; Ramsay named the men winners for having a more consistent service.

Elimination: Bev and Jessica were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Bev for letting Rochelle take over her station and for consistently mediocre performances.

Team challenge: Ramsay tested the chefs' adaptability, placing six ingredients under four domes. Every few minutes, a new dome became available, but sharing ingredients was banned; they had 30 minutes to make their dishes, judged by chef Michael Cimarusti. Kashia scored over Ralph on New York strip, Rochelle scored over Richard on lobster, Jason scored over Joy on sea bass, both Gabriel and Melanie scored on chicken and Anton scored over Jessica on ahi tuna. Sandra then scored over Scott on duck breast, giving the women a 4â€“3 win and their sixth challenge victory out of eight.

Reward/punishment: The women were rewarded with lunch at the beach and a private volleyball lesson with Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings. The men had to do the waitstaff's chores.

Cook for your life â€“ part 1: Instead of a service, Ramsay called each chef into his office one by one, evaluating their progress and asking them who they felt was the weakest chef in their team. Jessica and Richard received the most votes and were challenged with having 30 minutes apiece to cook three dishes, consisting of risotto, scallops, and halibut, judged by Ramsay. The loser was eliminated, resulting in the first elimination challenge in Hell's Kitchen.

Cook for your life â€“ part 2: Ramsay eliminated a tearful Jessica for undercooking lobster in the risotto and overcooking halibut. Jessica did not receive a comment or a coat-hanging and picture-burning sequence, but her hung jacket and burned picture was seen next to Ralph's.

Reward/punishment: The next morning, Ramsay brought the chefs to his GastroPub to give them inspiration before he announced that next service would have a special menu based on it. Later, Ralph began to feel sick, caused by bad sleep, but returned before service.

Service: The men did well on appetizers under Jason's leadership, while the women did fairly well, though Kashia cooked less than needed at first. On entrees, the women had a near flawless performance thanks to Joy on meat and Kashia on garnish. The men suffered a communication breakdown; Gabriel gave Ramsay inaccurate times on meat, Scott served soggy salad and fries, Ralph overcooked and undercooked fish and Anton failed to communicate with the meat station. The women finished service and all but Sandra, on desserts, were ordered to help the men. When Ralph served a mushy fish, Ramsay kicked the men out.

Elimination: Scott and Gabriel were nominated; Ramsay also nominated Ralph when Gabriel tried to nominate Ralph instead of himself. Ramsay eliminated Ralph for his issues on fish and chips and refusal to take responsibility for his mistakes.

Team challenge: The chefs had to match eight cuts of pork with eight body parts of a pig; the men won, so each member was allowed to choose which cut of pork they wanted to cook with and which member of the red team they wished to compete against. Melanie scored over Anton on the shoulder, Rochelle scored over Richard on loin, Gabriel scored over Joy on ribs and Jason scored over Sandra on the belly. Lastly, Scott surprised Ramsay by presenting a completed ravioli dish and scored over Kashia on pork cheek, giving the men a 3â€“2 win and their third challenge win.

Reward/punishment: The men went skydiving in a vertical wind tunnel and were received their own Vitamix blender. The women, in addition to prepping both kitchens, made peanut butter by cracking a lot of peanuts.

Service: Appetizers ran okay, but Anton cooked nine scallops instead of ten, Sandra overcooked lobster, Kashia forgot to turn the gas on when cooking risotto and Gabriel served raw mushrooms. Anton overcooked halibut, and Ramsay brought the men to the storeroom when Anton blamed Scott, before Anton overcooked salmon, causing Ramsay to jump in. Both teams finished service, but Ramsay named no winner.

Team challenge: Ramsay had each chef, one by one, enter a "grocery store" in darkness, where they had to use the sense of feel to collect five ingredients. He then gave them 30 minutes to use the ingredients, judging the winning team through a King of the Hill match between all chefs individually. Gabriel was not allowed to sit on the hill after forgetting his chicken mousse. Scott, Sandra, and Anton sat on the hill, but Rochelle surpassed them, and she went on to win the challenge for the blue team.

Reward/punishment: The blue team spent a day at LeSpa in Beverly Hills while the red team had to take in deliveries from a truck.

Service: 24 UNICEF charity members were guests for service including ambassador Angie Harmon, who served as the host for this special event. Each chef was in charge of a course, cooking twelve portions. Anton and Rochelle got risottos out, but Gabriel forgot to cook two tuna, slowing down the blue team until Rochelle helped him. Kashia struggled leading the tortellini course and Richard overcooked his, causing blue diners to receive reduced portions, a mistake made worse when Gabriel put out thirteen plates instead of twelve. Scott got lamb out fine despite poor presentation, but Sandra undercooked and then overcooked lamb. Lastly, Joy and Jason both got beignet courses out fine. Ramsay named both teams losers.

Elimination: The red team nominated Kashia and Scott while the blue team nominated Sandra and Gabriel. Ramsay eliminated Sandra for her issues on lamb and not improving after her move to the blue team.

Pre-service: There was no team challenge; the chefs were woken up by two rappers, who sang instructions for the teams to create their own menus. Melanie forced through most of her ideas for the red team, though Anton and Joy were able to get dishes on as well. Most of the blue team except Rochelle contributed ideas for their menu. Ramsay felt both menus were decent, but insisted on tweaks, calling out Rochelle when she burnt a sampler crab cake and giggled nervously.

Service: Rochelle was initially nervous but got appetizers out, though Gabriel repeatedly undercooked steaks. Richard served raw crab cakes and under-portioned the sides, causing Rochelle to take over. On the red team, Melanie had major troubles on their scallop dish and ran out mid-service, but Anton used the blue team's supply of scallops, as they did not need them, to help her. Despite the team's worries about the fried chicken dish, Joy got every order out perfectly, while Kashia delivered every order of her signature dish perfectly. Ramsay named the red team winners for a strong finish.

Team change: Ramsay then asked the red team for one volunteer to go to the blue team after the elimination aside from Anton or Scott, which was Melanie.

Elimination: Richard and Gabriel were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Richard for failing to live up to his experience, lacking Gabriel's determination and being kicked off his station by Rochelle.

Team challenge: The annual "blind taste test" took place; Rochelle identified three ingredients compared to Joy's two, Anton and Gabriel both scored one and Scott scored two while Jason failed to get any. Lastly, Melanie also scored zero, while Kashia scored one, giving the red team a 6â€“4 win.

Reward/punishment: The red team were rewarded with a private ice skating lesson with Olympian Rachael Flatt, while the blue team had to take in deliveries of ice and make ice cream for service. Concerned over Gabriel's lack of fightback, Ramsay gave him a pep talk in the storeroom before service.

Service: Ryan Pickett and Dante Basco were in attendance for this service. The blue team had a near perfect service thanks to Melanie on appetizers and Gabriel on garnish. Jason and Rochelle fell behind on orders, but both rebounded as Gabriel quickly reorganized the team. In the red kitchen, Scott got off to a good start on appetizers, but Kashia forgot to cook one scallop, and when Scott jumped in, he restarted the whole order. Kashia was caught braising a salmon in sauce and argued with Ramsay. Anton made raw chicken, but when Scott served it, he was accused of cooking it. Anton also burnt wellingtons and argued with Chef Andi, causing Ramsay to send him to the storeroom. Ramsay praised the blue team, particularly Gabriel, for their excellent service, but berated the red team.

Elimination: Anton and Scott were nominated. Ramsay eliminated Anton for his arrogance and disintegrating performances.

Team challenge: The chefs were taken to Bristol Farms Supermarket and given $35 and 15 minutes to shop for ingredients and cook three dishes. Since the blue team had an extra member, Rochelle and Gabriel worked as a pair. The guest judges were editor of LAist Krista Simmons, Master Yelper Anita Lau and IDG Director of Development Brent Berkowitz. Each judge gave a price they would pay for the dish and the three prices were averaged to give a score. Kashia's Top Sirloin with bourbon sauce scored $24.67, while Jason's cornish hen scored $20. Rochelle and Gabriel's trout dish scored $21.33, while Scott's pan-roasted sea bass and jumbo shrimp scored $23.67. Joy's seared pork loin rubbed with sage, salt, black pepper, and spiced applesauce scored $24.67, while Melanie's lamb chops with fresh rosemary, garlic, and lemon sage cous cous scored $28. The blue team's total was $69.33, but the red team won the challenge with their total of $73.01.

Reward/punishment: The red team were given $1000 for a shopping spree at Grove SS and had lunch at the Hatfield restaurant in Los Angeles. The blue team cleaned the dorms and bathrooms.

Challenge – Part I: At a press conference, Ramsay revealed the season's first individual challenge, in which each chef would be competing to earn a black jacket, immunity from elimination in the next dinner service and their dish a place on the December page of the calendar. Each chef was given 45 minutes to create a dish of their choice. Ramsay then revealed three guest judges alongside him to judge the dishes, season 3 winner Rock Harper, season 9 winner Paul Niedermann, which Jason meets for the first time since he withdrawn due to illness, and season 10 second runner-up Dana Cohen; each judge rated the dish from 1–5.

Jason's stuffed halibut with capellini, goat cheese, crab and shrimp scored 8, Kashia's rack of lamb covered with honey pistachio and demi-glace scored 11, Rochelle's seared New York Strip steak with cilantro-lime chimichurri sauce scored 13, Scott's pan-seared sea scallops and poached crab with tarragon butter scored 11, Melanie's marinated rack of lamb with red wine rosemary garlic and creamy basil-infused mashed potatoes scored 5 and Gabriel's roasted rack of lamb did not score a single point. Last up was Joy, with a seared duck breast with oven-roasted figs, mushrooms, and Swiss Chard.

Challenge â€“ Part II: Continued from the previous episode, Joy's dish impressed all four judges, earning her an almost perfect score of 19 points.

Reward/punishment: Joy earned a black jacket and therefore immunity from elimination after service, a December spot on the HK calendar, and was also treated to lunch with Rock, Paul, and Dana in the Hell's Kitchen dining room. The others prepared the food and serve it to them.

Service: Before service, Ramsay revealed that every chef surviving elimination after service would be rewarded with a black jacket. Dinner service featured a special VIP table for members of Oxfam, an anti-poverty charity, including ambassador and actress Minnie Driver, and founder Raymond Offenheiser. Both teams had to serve them at the same time, but Gabriel served scallops too early and miscounted them before overcooking them, though he recovered quickly. Scott argued with Ramsay on fish, Kashia served perfectly cooked but poorly cut chicken, Melanie undercooked chicken. Gabriel was caught cooking halibut and salmon in the same pan before serving dry salmon.

Automatic elimination: After Scott and Gabriel both burnt salmon, Ramsay pulled them into the storage room. When they returned, they completed the VIP table. However, after serving raw salmon, Ramsay eliminated Gabriel, making him the sixth contestant in Hell's Kitchen history to be eliminated during service, and the first since Nilka in season 7. Instead of sending Gabriel upstairs like the rest, Ramsay sends him through the front entrance, shocking the blue team and the customers. Outside, Jean-Phillipe consoled him before taking his jacket and shaking his hand goodbye. Gabriel was not given the coat hook or flaming picture scene. The teams were named joint-losers. Ramsay had both teams nominate one chef for elimination.

Elimination: Jason and Scott were nominated but Ramsay also nominated Melanie. However, he instead gave her the second black jacket followed by Kashia, Rochelle, Jason and Scott.

Challenge: The chefs traveled to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where they cooked gourmet tailgate party food favorites for USC Trojans football fans; the dish voted best by a group of 50 fans won. The challenge ended in a tie between Scott and Jason.

Reward/punishment: Scott and Jason were treated to a trip to the Saddle Peak Lodge in Malibu while the others were forced to sort garbage from the tailgate party and in Hell's Kitchen. Jason got drunk during the reward, and in addition to arriving late to prep, was very sluggish in helping out.

Service: Appetizers ran okay, but Scott overcooked risotto on the final table and argued with Ramsay, who accused him of trying to cover up his mistakes. Kashia cooked one lobster tail instead of two and accused Melanie of not helping her, even though she earlier refused Melanie's help. Rochelle had trouble slicing chicken, forcing Ramsay to help her, and Kashia served raw salmon, screaming at Jason and Rochelle when they asked her for times on the refire, which Ramsay rebuked her for. Kashia then failed to get it out, so Ramsay put Scott on the station with her, but he made the situation worse and argued with Ramsay again; the team finished service, but Ramsay had the chefs nominate one chef for elimination.

Elimination: Kashia was nominated; Ramsay also nominated Scott since he found his arguing "unacceptable".[note 1] Ramsay eliminated Kashia for her volatile attitude during service and poor performance on fish, but praised her for her effort.

Challenge: The chefs were treated to a musical number by a rock band, who used discarded everyday objects as their musical instruments. The chefs were then given 30 minutes to make a dish using leftovers from the Hell's Kitchen fridge, which would be judged on taste and presentation by Ramsay and magazine food editor Laurie Buckle. While Jason, Joy, and Rochelle received poor reviews, Scott won, narrowly beating out Melanie.

Reward/punishment: Scott was rewarded with a photo-shoot for Better Homes and Gardens magazine, where his dish was featured. He and Jason also got to fly fighter planes. While the others are busy cutting pumpkins, Rochelle cut her thumb and was sent to the hospital but returned in time for dinner service.

Service: Comic book legend Stan Lee was a guest at the chef's table. The Red Hat Society along with Bree Williamson and Keran Giovanni were also guests for this service. Scott had a strong performance on appetizers despite being forced to clean burning rice on the stove, while Melanie failed twice to cook an acceptable capellini for the chef's table, but recovered. Rochelle, on meat, lead entrees and constantly called out times, but Joy, despite acknowledging Rochelle's times, served fish too early, angering Ramsay.

Joy's exit: This happened again at the next table with Jason on garnish and Joy argued with Ramsay before leaving the kitchen saying "I'm done" and angrily throwing off her jacket despite pleas from her teammates not to leave. Ramsay followed Joy and called her out on her selfish behavior, but Joy argued back once more saying she was done with Ramsay snapping "I know you're done, it shows in your cooking" and she went upstairs to the dorm. The remaining chefs persevered and finished service, while Joy packed her bags in the dorm; Chef Andi attempted to motivate Joy, and while Joy regretted her decision to walk out, she withdrew from the competition, making her the 3rd chef to walk out of the competition following Season 1's Jeff's, and Season 7's Andrew's withdrawal from the competition, believing it was too late. Joy received a burning picture scene, but it is unknown whether her jacket was hung even though she threw it off.

Elimination: Ramsay didn't say much about Joy after her departure, although he did state her decision to leave proved to him that she isn't ready to be a head chef, and that he expects everyone else to have a better attitude at this stage of the competition. He also added that to be a great head chef, one needs to have composure, discipline, and maturity, and that Joy lacked all of those things in her decision to leave. Ramsay then told the remaining chefs that despite the ups and downs, they all fought back, and that no one else would be leaving. However, he announced that after the next service, two contestants would be eliminated, with the other two advancing as finalists.

The chefs were summoned downstairs for a security check before meeting Ramsay and security guards outside. VIP guests then arrived; the chefs' loved ones (Rochelle's fiance and parents, Melanie's boyfriend and mother, Jason's girlfriend and mother and Scott's wife, son, and daughter). They all enjoyed a dish that Ramsay prepared for them in the dining room.

Challenge: This led to the popular 40 minute "Taste it, now make it" challenge. Ramsay allowed the chefs to use a sample plate as a reference since most of them had eaten very little of the dish. For the protein, Jason, Melanie, and Rochelle chose sole, while Scott used escolar. For the garnish, Jason, Rochelle, and Scott chose butternut squash, while Melanie chose pumpkin. For the puree, Jason and Scott chose watercress, Melanie chose arugula and Rochelle chose parsley. Ramsay revealed the protein was sole, eliminating Scott, and the garnish was butternut squash, eliminating Melanie. Jason then beat out Rochelle as he correctly used watercress for his puree.

Reward/punishment: Jason went to two Los Angeles the Fig & Olive with Sous Chef Andi and Ink with his girlfriend and mother. He also won a set of stainless steel cookware. The others had to move furniture not being used out of the dorms and prep the kitchen for dinner service. Rochelle sat out due to her cut thumb and Melanie intentionally sat out as well, hoping Scott would tire himself out and sabotage his chances of getting to the final.

Service: Each chef took a turn running the pass, while also having to spot acts of sabotage Ramsay and sous chef James set up. Rochelle was nervous in leadership as she read out tickets too fast and kept giggling, but after a pep talk by Ramsay, she recovered, rejecting poorly presented salads by Scott and catching shrimp in a risotto instead of lobster. Melanie also spoke very quickly and had a hard time maintaining attention, and was also urged to take control. She improved, but failed to realize that Jean-Philippe had given her a ticket featuring a "chef's special", despite none being on the menu. Scott held everyone to a high standard and was quick to point out even tiny flaws, which annoyed the other chefs, but he led very effectively and caught a duck breast and a raw chicken breast instead of two chicken breasts. Jason was laid-back at first, but then generally led well, catching a salmon instead of halibut.

Challenge: Ramsay invited Scott and Jason to a Los Angeles night club, where they competed in their final challenge. Both prepared two appetizers and three entrees in one hour to be judged by five well-renowned chefs from 1–10. Scott won 43–42.

Reward: Scott was given the first pick in drafting a team using the ten chefs eliminated from the competition prior to the final.[note 3] Scott picked Chris, Ralph, Rochelle, Kashia, and Jessica, while Jason picked Anton, Melanie, Gabriel and Bev, and was left with Sandra.

Dinner service: The finalists' families along with Sean Kanan and Shanola Hampton were guests for the final service in addition to guests sitting at the chef's tables which includes singer Natasha Bedingfield in Scott's kitchen and actor Mark Boone Junior in Jason's kitchen. In the red kitchen, despite strong performances from Anton, Melanie, Gabriel and Bev, Sandra failed to provide times on garnish and old crab cakes for the chef's table, argued with Jason, and worked slowly. Gabriel overcooked fillets, but recovered. In the blue kitchen, Jessica struggled on garnish and Scott kicked her out after she served poor french fries, marking the second time a finalist threw a chef out of the kitchen, but Kashia, Ralph, Chris, and Rochelle put in strong performances. Ramsay praised Jason and Scott and announced the results were very close.

Winner: After deliberating, Ramsay called Scott and Jason to his office and gave them final praise before sending them to two doors; Scott's door opened, making him the twelfth winner of Hell's Kitchen. Though he left for medical reasons in season 9's 1st episode and actually made it this far in this season, Jason took his defeat graciously and felt Scott deserved to win. Scott gave a victory speech and thanked people for supporting him.[note 4]