Eight of the most talented chefs in the country receive a mysterious invitation to stay and cook at a spooky, isolated hotel. In the end, only the most talented, strategic and resourceful chef will end their stay at the hotel $25,000 richer
Eight chefs make the journey to a remote hotel with their trunks full of their 13 ingredients -- the only things they'll have to cook with for the entirety of their stay. Host Tituss Burgess puts them to work making a welcome bite for VIP guest Marcus Samuelsson and wastes no time eliminating one chef immediately after the first challenge, sending them directly to the dreaded Room 13. The remaining chefs are then divided into teams and tasked with re-creating items from the hotel's 100 year-old menu: either beef Wellington or cassoulet. Before the night's end, another chef will be sent to Room 13
Host Tituss Burgess asks the six remaining chefs to team up and create a steak feast for VIP guest Poppy O'Toole. While one team doesn't have any steak, the other lacks Poppy's favorite ingredient: potatoes. With limited ingredients on hand, the chefs must lean on their creativity and hope to inherit the best produce, protein and pantry items from a dearly departed colleague
Host Tituss Burgess asks the remaining five chefs to create a stunning noodle dish for VIP guest and Iron Chef Michael Symon, using an ingredient bequeathed to them by a recently eliminated chef along with their own dwindling ingredients. The winning chef will inherit the rest of the bequeathed trunk, but the bottom two competitors will face off in a sudden-death cooking round highlighting the humble pickled egg
Host Tituss Burgess welcomes VIP guests Esther Choi and Judy Joo, who request something spicy for dinner from the remaining four chefs. After their impressive fiery dishes, the competitors are asked to use even more of their precious resources to make something icy cool to soothe their guests' burning mouths, but it's worth it in order to stay in the game and stay out of Room 13
Host Tituss Burgess has only three chefs remaining on his kitchen staff as he welcomes VIP guest Andrew Zimmern for a very late check-in to the hotel, and the exhausted competitors must make a midnight snack to be delivered to Andrew's room. In the morning, it's every chef for themselves as they use their dwindling resources to create stunning breakfast dishes in an attempt to avoid Room 13
Host Tituss Burgess welcomes three VIP guests to the hotel, Iron Chefs Alex Guarnaschelli, Cat Cora and Jose Garces. The guests are hungry for a three-course meal, but one competitor will be sent to Room 13 after the tasting of the first course. At the end of the final two courses, the most resourceful and talented chef will take home the grand prize of $25,000
