Who went home in Hell's Kitchen Season 24 Episode 8? Details explored

In Episode 8 of Hell’s Kitchen Season 24, titled “Cook for Your Life,” host Gordon Ramsay sent home one chef after a dramatic 4–4 tie in the “State-to-Plate” challenge forced a sudden-death cook-off among the four lowest-scoring contestants.

The elimination concluded with Cara Marie Hall's departure from the competition.

Cara Marie Hall’s elimination: Inside the sudden-death showdown on Hell’s Kitchen Season 24

Season 24 of Hell’s Kitchen, subtitled Battle of the States, features 20 chefs, each representing a different U.S. state, competing for a $250,000 prize and the head-chef position at the Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant at Foxwoods.

The episode in question opened with the “State-to-Plate” challenge. In that challenge, chefs decoded scrambled ingredient cues from license-plate codes; the winner of each clue could decide whether to keep that ingredient or assign it to the other team.

In the cook segment that followed, each chef was given one of three proteins and the ingredients their team had acquired.

Because the Red Team had one extra member, one dish was removed from scoring as Chef Lisa volunteered her dish for elimination.

When the scores were tallied, they stood at 4–4.

With the teams tied, Ramsay asked for the standout dish of the night to break the tie, awarding that recognition to Henry Johnson.

Ramsay then sampled Lisa’s dish and noted that if Lisa’s plate had been counted, the Red Team would have lost anyway.

Instead of moving into dinner service as usual, Ramsay announced a twist: the four chefs with the lowest cumulative scores to date—Cara Marie Hall, Jayden Canady, Chris Faison, and Ellie Parker—would each cook individually for their lives.

They all chose to cook fish dishes.

Ellie faced Jayden in the first cook-off, both cooking salmon.

Ellie was declared safe, leaving Jayden to next face Cara Marie.

Cara Marie prepared halibut with mashed potatoes; though Ramsay praised her protein cooking, he found the vegetable component lacking.

Finally, Ramsay compared Cara Marie’s dish to Chris’s halibut and announced Cara Marie’s elimination from the competition. He said, 

“Even as a vegan chef, Cara Marie could cook proteins beautifully. Ironically, tonight it was the vegetables that did her in.” 

The elimination ended Episode 8 of Hell’s Kitchen Season 24, and sets the remaining contestants on a new trajectory under increased pressure.

Why Cara Marie Went Home

• Cara Marie Hall had the weakest dish in the final cook-off, according to Ramsay’s judgment.


• Even though her protein (halibut) was cooked properly, her mashed potatoes were deemed substandard in the context of the “cook for your life” round.


• The decision came after both Jayden and Chris had advanced past elimination rounds, leaving Cara Marie with the poorest performance among the final four.

Implications for the contest

With Cara Marie gone, Hell’s Kitchen Season 24 now moves forward with one less competitor and a heightened sense of individual accountability.

The “Battle of the States” theme remains intact, but the episode underscores that even with team challenges, individual performance ultimately carries the heaviest weight. 

The sudden shift, from team challenge to solo elimination, is a clear strategic turning point.

As the remaining chefs regroup, viewers will watch for who can thrive under increased pressure.

The elimination of Cara Marie may serve as a message to the contestants: no matter the state you represent or the team you’re on, if you cannot deliver when it matters, you risk being sent home.

Stay tuned for more updates.