'24 in 24: Last Chef Standing': Every Hour of the Competition

The competing chefs entering the 24 in 24 kitchen are culinary titans, and each of them is well-accustomed to producing exceptional dishes in fast-paced, high-pressure environments. Are these seasoned pros sweating over a stove for 18-hour shifts at this point in their career? Maybe not. Even so, no chef is walking into our competition kitchen who hasn’t worked overtime to get where they are today.

With that said, there’s also not a single chef entering our kitchen who has any experience with planning, preparing and serving dishes for 24 hours straight with a chance to win $75,000.

The grueling competition includes 24 nonstop challenges broken into eight shifts built to test their strengths in: speed, simplicity, resourcefulness, artistry, adaptability, teamwork, risk-taking and elevation.

Who will be the first to clock out and who will close down the kitchen at the end of the competition? Keep reading to relive the competition and get a detailed recap of every hour of 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing Season 2.

Twenty-four talented chefs hit the ground running to outperform their peers as the competition begins with Shift 1: Speed. The first challenge in the kitchen is a three-part speed race designed to test the chefs’ abilities to deliver technical precision when up against a ticking clock.

First, each chef is tasked with separating and whisking eight egg whites by hand until they are stiff enough to hold in a bowl when flipped upside down. Chef Jonathon Sawyer is the first to move from the egg white station to Part 2 of the race, where chefs must put their knife skills to the test.

The chefs must tournée eight potatoes, a traditional French cutting technique to create seven symmetrical sides, before moving on to the final leg of the race. The third station requires each chef to juice lemons by hand until they meet the 8-ounce mark on a glass measuring cup.

Although chef Bryan Voltaggio moves on to the lemon station first, chef Kevin Lee bypasses him and wins the first 24 in 24 challenge by squeezing his lemons into a large bowl before pouring the juice into a measuring cup. This technique ensured he retained as much juice as possible, whereas other chefs who juiced directly into the cups saw significant fallout and required more time to complete the task.

The Golden Knife gives chefs power and advantages in the game and is given to the chef who outperforms their competitors in the challenges throughout the grueling 24-hour competition.

Chef Kevin’s advantage? He gets to hand-select the chef he wants to compete against in an elimination challenge cooking his chosen protein: beef. After weighing his options, chef Kevin takes on Food Network regular and New England cuisine expert chef Michele Ragussis for Challenge 2: Head to Head.

Chefs Kevin and Michele are challenged to deliver their best one-bite beef dish that will be judged blind by the Tournament of Champions Season 6 winner, chef Antonia Lofaso. The winner of Challenge 2 earns the Golden Knife, a trip to the break room and advances to the next round while the remaining chefs duke it out. The loser is eliminated.

Each chef leans on their signature flavors to create a dish that speaks to their roots. Chef Kevin serves a Korean beef tartare with crispy rice, pickled onions, garlic chips and a medley of herbs and lemon. Chef Michele celebrates her Greek-Sicilian background with a Greek meatball with pomegranate tzatziki, herb salad and pistachio gremolata.

Judge Antonia enjoyed both bites but found chef Michele’s meatball a bit dry. Chef Michele is the first chef to exit the 24 in 24 kitchen after one hour and 28 minutes.

Chef Kevin retains the Golden Knife and heads to the break room until the next shift. The beef station sign is removed and replaced with “break room” — giving two of the remaining chefs, all still at the lemon station, the option to bolt toward the break room station instead of the remaining proteins. Those who choose the break room station will sit out the next challenge and advance to the next shift, but host Michael Symon warns that resting now may lead to pain later. Even so, chefs Stephanie Izard and LT Smith take their chances and head to the break room to join the Golden Knife wielder.

While chefs Stephanie and LT opt out of protein altogether, the remaining 20 chefs run to the open stations in hopes of securing the protein that best complements their culinary skills.

For Challenge 3, the chefs must prepare a dish with their station’s protein that includes the three ingredients prepped in the three-part speed challenge: potatoes, egg whites and lemon. Oh, and they only have 24 minutes to prepare, cook and plate their creations for a blind tasting.

Hosts Esther Choi and Michael let the chefs in on another twist: No matter what, at the end of this challenge, half of the competitors will be going home. And their fate may not be in their hands.

In every row, there’s a single red cutting board at one of the cook stations. The chefs with the red cutting board have the deciding vote on whether to go head-to-head against the chef sharing their station for elimination or join forces with their station-mate to create the dish. If the chef decides to go head-to-head against their station-mate, the two chefs with the same protein across the aisle will do the same. If they choose to partner, the two chefs across the aisle are required to do the same, with the two chefs with the same protein across the aisle.

Chef Bryan chooses to partner with chef Elia Aboumrad and compete against chefs Leslie Daniel and Sam Cruz for fish. Chef Nini Nguyen partners with chef Gabe Bertaccini to compete against chefs Richie Farino and Ilan Hall's shellfish dish.

Chef Marc Murphy opts to go head-to-head cooking lamb against his station-mate, chef Kathleen O'Brien-Price, and his decision forces the same fate onto chefs Brittanny Anderson and Zuri Resendiz. For chicken, chef Jonathon chooses to face his station partner, chef Star Maye, head-on and leads chefs Damaris Phillips and Ashleigh Shanti to do the same. And, finally, chef Laurence Louie faces chef Arturo Leighton head-on for pork, leading chefs Dara Yu and Kelsey Murphy to do the same.

Chefs Bryan and Elia’s Italian spicy crudo and crispy potato dish wins the taste test against chefs Leslie and Sam’s seared halibut with mashed potatoes and herb salad. Chefs Leslie and Sam are eliminated while the victors move to the break room.

Chefs Richie and Ilan serve up saffron steamed mussels with crispy potatoes and aioli that impress the judge, but, ultimately, chefs Nini and Gabe serve the winning shellfish dish: seared scallops with potato shoestrings and hazelnut gremolata.

Chef Jonathon beats chef Star with a chicken thigh, wild mushroom and potato leek fricassee, while chef Damaris sends chef Ashleigh packing with her fried chicken sandwich with lemon poppy seed aioli slaw and malt vinegar potato chips.

Chef Laurence’s cabbage-wrapped pork dumplings beat chef Arturo’s pork pupusa and secure his place in the 24 in 24 kitchen. Across the aisle, chef Kelsey’s bacon jam hash with marinated pork chop and egg beats chef Dara’s pork tenderloin.

Chef Brittanny serves the best bite of the challenge (earning $2,400) with lamb tartare and smoky potato chips. And, finally, chef Kathleen serves up a lamb burger with whipped feta and fries so delicious she sends Food Network legend Marc home.

Time to clock in for Shift 2: Simplicity. There are 13 chefs remaining in the 24 in 24 kitchen, but only 12 stations are for grabs.

Remember when Michael warned chefs Stephanie and LT that choosing the break room station may lead to pain later? Well, later has arrived in the form of Challenge 4: Fancy PB&J Lunch. In this challenge, chefs Stephanie and LT battle over securing a station and their place in the competition by using peanut butter, jelly and bread to create a fancy lunch in 30 minutes. And, in the spirit of simplicity, the chefs are restricted to three additional ingredients to prepare their dishes.

Chef LT brings miso, anchovies and gem lettuce to his station. The football player turned culinary star serves an inventive salad with grape jelly and anchovy coulis, peanut butter miso dressing and crispy anchovy-breadcrumb topping.

Chef Stephanie opts for an elevated traditional soup and sandwich lunch dish. Her three additional ingredients are onions, cheddar cheese and Granny Smith apples. She makes a grilled apple peanut butter and cheddar sandwich with a grape caramel black pepper sauce and a soup using all six ingredients.

Shift 2 judge and culinary powerhouse Graham Elliott determines that chef Stephanie’s classic lunch is the winning dish, earning her the Golden Knife and a station to continue her craft in the next round of the competition.

Chef LT clocks out after completing four challenges and spending four hours and 28 minutes in the competition.

Challenge 5 begins with flair as production rolls out a long white table lined with 12 cloches, three bottles of Chianti and four glowing candles. Underneath the cloches are 12 identical pasta dishes. The objective? Chefs must identify the seven ingredients used in this pasta dish in 90 seconds — while blindfolded.

After tasting, the chefs write down the seven ingredients they believe were used in the dish — no more, no less. Unbeknownst to them, the chefs' ability to discern the individual ingredients of the mystery pasta dish greatly impacts their gameplay in Challenge 6.

Chefs return to their stations and Challenge 6 begins. Michael and Esther task the competitors with creating their best noodle dish. But, as always, there’s a catch: The number of ingredients guessed correctly is the number of ingredients they can use to create their noodle dish.

The winner of the best noodle dish earns the Golden Knife and pockets $2,400. The loser clocks out.

Some chefs listed four or five of the correct pasta ingredients, making this challenge relatively simple. Others, like chefs Gabe, Elia and Stephanie, only guessed two of the ingredients — making this significantly more challenging.

Chef Stephanie is given a Golden Knife advantage that allows her to add one extra ingredient to her total available ingredients and take away an ingredient from one of her peers. She chooses to take one of chef Kevin’s away.

Chef Brittanny chooses carrots, dill, smoked salmon and lemons as her four ingredients and makes a light-and-springy carrot butter spaghetti.

Chef Laurence selects shrimp, salmon roe and garlic for his three ingredients and serves a seafood ramen lo mein.

Thanks to chef Stephanie, chef Kevin only has three ingredients to work with. He selects chicken, garlic, and Fresno peppers and serves the judge a spicy chicken noodle soup.

Chef Damaris uses her three ingredients — chicken, yuzu kosho and furikake — to make Asian chicken and dumplings.

Firenze-born chef Gabe proves he doesn’t need much to deliver high-impact flavors. He selects mushrooms and duck as his two ingredients and serves a rustic herb ricotta gnocchi with mushroom and duck confit.

Chef Bryan leans into his Italian-American roots and chooses clams, lemon and parsley as his three ingredients and serves his take on linguine and clams.

Chef Nini has five ingredients to play with. She makes bun cha Hanoi from pork belly, fish sauce, mint, lettuce and limes.

Chef Jonathon chooses tomatoes, guanciale and Parmesan for his three ingredients and produces a standout ricotta gnocchi amatriciana.

Chef Stephanie makes Thai scissor-cut noodles with three ingredients: Thai shrimp paste, mint and lemons.

Chef Kathleen draws inspiration from her home cooking and creates a crab orecchiette with five ingredients: crab, onion, seafood seasoning, mint and lemons.

Chef Elia proves that sometimes less is more with her two-ingredient pasta dish: pork ragu bucatini. Her two ingredients? Pork sausage and heavy cream.

Chef Kelsey transforms five ingredients into a rich lemon butter cream fettuccine. To make it, she uses heavy cream, walnuts, lemons, Parmesan and panko.

Chef Jonathon’s ricotta gnocchi amatriciana is named the best noodle dish and earns him the Golden Knife and $2,400. Chef Laurence’s choice of instant ramen noodles disappointed the judge and led him to clock out after completing six challenges and spending six hours and 52 minutes in the competition kitchen.

Can the remaining 11 chefs prepare elevated dishes with limited ingredients? After about seven hours, the chefs are tested to find out in Shift 3: Resourcefulness.

Over the course of the next three continuous challenges, judged by chef Jet Tila, the chefs are tasked with preparing a three-course black-tie dinner featuring an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. Of course, there are a few twists. The chefs must prepare and serve their three-course meal in 60 nonstop minutes, with their appetizer by the 20-minute mark, the entree by the 40-minute mark and the dessert at hour’s end.

Unfortunately, they don’t have time to hit the market before the clock begins. The good news? The Food Network culinary team went down to the local farmers market to pick up some goodies for them. The bad news? The market was closing, so they grabbed some interesting ingredients for the chefs to work with: carrot tops, bitter melon, cocktail weenies, truffle oil, dried scallops, Carolina reaper peppers, fermented black beans, shell-on pistachios, pimento cheese and strawberry milk.

As the winner of the last challenge, chef Jonathon gets to choose the six ingredients he and his fellow chefs will use when preparing their Challenge 7 dishes. He selects: carrot tops, shell-on pistachios, strawberry milk, dried scallops, Carolina reaper peppers and pimento cheese.

The four chefs who serve the best black-tie appetizer earn a trip to the break room and are safe in the competition until the next shift. The winning dishes are chef Kathleen’s shrimp with carrot top and pistachio pesto with citrus reaper oil, chef Jonathon’s steamed clams with dried scallop and carrot top broth, chef Gabe’s pimento cheese polenta with uni brown butter and chef Nini’s beef carpaccio with pimento cheese foam and carrot top.

With 20 minutes gone, the remaining seven chefs scramble to churn out their dishes for Challenge 8: Black-Tie Entree by the 40-minute mark.

As with the previous challenge, the four chefs who serve the best black-tie entrees earn a ticket to the break room and secure their place in the 24-hour competition until the next shift. The standout entrees of this round are chef Bryan’s roasted pork loin over pimento grits with Carolina reaper au jus, chef Stephanie’s branzino and butter poached lobster with pimento cheese sauce, chef Kelsey’s lobster in shellfish broth with roasted romanesco and dried scallops and Chef Elia’s branzino with apple grapefruit sauce and fried carrot tops, pictured above.

Three chefs remain in the kitchen for Challenge 9: Black-Tie Dessert: Damaris, Kevin and Brittanny. The talented pros race against 20 minutes on the clock to present flavor-packed fine-dining desserts.

Chef Damaris calls on her Southern roots and serves a strawberry milk scone with brown sugar labneh, berries and mint.

Chef Kevin serves strawberry milk pudding with blackberries, black sesame macerated blueberries and vanilla bean whipped cream.

Chef Brittanny prepares ricotta zeppole with strawberry milk white ganache, strawberries, pistachios and Thai basil. While the zeppoles felt aligned with fine dining, the judge felt the Thai basil overpowered the dish, leading to her elimination after completing nine challenges and spending eight hours and 58 minutes in the 24 in 24 kitchen.

Jet awards chef Elia the Golden Knife and names her branzino entree his favorite dish of the shift.

Only 10 talented chefs remain as Shift 4: Artistry begins. This shift tests the competitors’ creativity and ability to plate dishes as beautiful as they are delicious.

Challenge 10 is a feast for the eyes — and for the eyes only. Chefs are tasked to use any produce they can find to plate a work of art with just 10 minutes on the clock. Their plates will be judged by chef Fariyal Abdullahi on the visual presentation alone, allowing them to pair produce that may not taste harmonious together to create eye candy. The winner of this challenge earns the Golden Knife and $2,400, and the loser loses five minutes for the next challenge.

The chefs put their spin on the challenge and pull inspiration from life experiences and their favorite artists. Chef Jonathon presents a Rothko-inspired plate that left Fariyal wanting more. Chef Elia earns best in show with a powerful, emotionally charged plate inspired by the life and hurdles of Frida Kahlo.

As Challenge 10 ends, the competition moves full speed ahead. With chefs back at their station, hosts Esther and Michael unveil a gallery wall containing some of the greatest paintings of all time from art movements including impressionism, abstract, expressionism, arcadian and more.

Chef Elia’s Golden Knife advantage gives her a leg up on the remaining two challenges in Shift 4. She gets to hand-select the iconic artwork she wishes to use as her muse and distribute the remaining pieces to her peers.

Challenges 11 and 12 are simultaneous challenges revolving around one dish the chefs create based on famous artwork. For these challenges, each chef must produce a plate that showcases the color, shape and composition at play in their assigned masterpiece.

Challenge 11 is a visual contest. Each chef is scored up to 50 points based on how successfully their plate visually represents their inspiration art. Challenge 12 is a taste contest. Each dish is evaluated based on flavor alone and scored up to 50 points. The chef with the highest combined score from Challenges 11 and 12 will receive the Golden Knife. The pro with the lowest points will be eliminated.

Chef Elia selects Claude Monet’s iconic Water Lilies as her muse. She brings the impressionist painting to life with a scallop crudo enhanced with orange, lemon and cilantro.

Chef Stephanie serves short ribs with kimchi butter sauce inspired by the colors and textures at play in Edvard Munch’s The Scream.

Chef Bryan prepares brown buttered white fish lacquered in purple cabbage as an homage to Flower of Life II by Georgia O’Keeffe.

Chef Kevin serves Fariyal an interactive pour-over plate of scallop crudo inspired by Hokusai's The Great Wave.

Chef Kathleen makes a stacked zucchini enchilada with various sauces and salsas inspired by Kandinsky’s Color Study: Squares With Concentric Circles.

For her interpretation of Mondrian’s Tableau No. IV, chef Kelsey serves sauteed cod with butterfly pea flour jasmine rice and parsnip puree.

Chef Gabe reimagines van Gogh’s Irises with a plate of vibrant herb risotto with grilled asparagus and purple potato chips.

Chef Damaris draws upon a beloved Southern staple — catfish — to bring Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring to life on her plate. She pairs the fish with butter-poached radishes and uses blueberry hot sauce to re-create the iconic headscarf.

Chef Nini creates a stunning plate inspired by Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. She serves scallop crudo on a half shell and pays an artful homage to the goddess’ flowing locks with delicate cucumber and radishes.

Finally, despite his five-minute disadvantage, chef Jonathon redeems himself with his culinary interpretation of Duncanson’s On the St. Annes, East Canada. He prepares a hanger steak with foraged mushrooms, Swiss chard and turnip greens.

Although judge Faryial finds most of the art-inspired dishes enjoyable, she offers high praises to chef Stephanie for balancing several flavors to achieve a harmonious plate, chef Kevin for his powerful sea flavors and chef Gabe for his “almost literal” translation of Irises through his herby, floral and rich risotto.

She calls chef Jonathon’s hanger steak a flavor bomb and appreciates how he uses rich colors and earthy flavors to transport her to autumn.

In the end, chef Jonathon is rewarded the highest overall score for Challenges 11 and 12, earning the coveted Golden Knife and securing his place in the competition.

Chefs Kathleen and Damaris earn the lowest combined scores and are placed in the bottom two. Chef Darmaris’ subtle flavors and uninviting visuals lead to her elimination. The Southern culinary queen and Food Network favorite clocks out of the 24 in 24 kitchen after completing 12 high-pressure challenges in 12 hours and 28 minutes.

After nearly 13 hours in the kitchen, Michael and Esther lead the nine remaining chefs into the break room to enjoy a much-deserved ice cream party. Except, of course, it’s not a party at all — it's the start of Shift 5: Adaptability and the jumping point for Challenge 13: Break Room Dessert.

The competitors are presented with a trolley with nine ice cream flavors — one for each chef. The exhausted chefs are tasked to create their best dessert using the ice cream flavor of their choice. As a twist, the chefs are only allowed ingredients found in the break room to prepare their dishes. Chef Jonathon's Golden Knife advantage gives him his pick of the ice creams and the power to choose the order in which the chefs select their flavors.

He chooses butter pecan ice cream and creates a campfire s’more dessert with a cinnamon anglaise base, black pepper honey butterscotch, milk chocolate butter pecan ice cream and charred marshmallows.

Chef Stephanie presents an Elvis Presley-style strawberry banana split, complete with caramelized cheese crackers and a peanut butter hot chocolate sauce.

Chef Kathleen scoops her cherry chip ice cream into a waffle cone and creates a charming “gnome in the forest.”

Chef Gabe leans into his Italian roots and presents a break room take on a brioche con gelato. He sandwiches his cookie dough ice cream between brioche bread tossed in cornflakes and nuts and serves his treat with salted caramel topped with smoked bacon.

Inspired by her three children, chef Kelsey creates a playful ice cream sandwich she knows her little ones would love. She sandwiches birthday cake ice cream between brioche bread toasted in brown butter.

Chef Nini proves vanilla ice cream is anything but boring with her thoughtful dish. She pairs vanilla ice cream with fruit, white cheddar crackers, caramelized croissant croutons and grapes for an inventive, well-balanced dessert.

Chef Elia impresses with a luxurious chocolate ice cream affogato featuring sliced break room bread, sugar, butter, clementines and espresso.

Chef Kevin misses the mark, pairing mint chocolate chip ice cream with a deep-fried, premade peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Chef Brooke Williamson judges Shift 5 and bestows chef Bryan with the Golden Knife for his coffee ice cream tiramisu made with cream cheese, marshmallow and grated cocoa wafer topping.

The Golden Knife advantage for Challenge 14 is huge: Chef Bryan earns passage to the next shift and can enjoy a well-deserved rest in the break room for the subsequent two challenges. But first, he must choose three of his fellow competitors to bring into the break room — and straight to Shift 6 — with him.

He weighs his choices with the long-game strategy in mind. He first selects chef Jonathon, as he views him as a strong competitor and believes he may be advantageous to have by his side in the shifts ahead. Along with chef Jonathon, he chooses two chefs he feels are less likely to pose a threat to him as the competition progresses: chefs Kathleen and Kelsey. The four chefs head to the break room and watch Challenge 14 unfold.

With the four lucky chefs settled into the break room, hosts Esther and Michael tell the five remaining competitors they have two minutes to shop the pantry for lumberjack breakfast ingredients. Only after the chefs gather all their meat, potatoes and maple syrups do the hosts reveal the big twist: They are not cooking a lumberjack breakfast after all. Instead, they have 30 minutes to transform their food into a refined five-star entree.

The sleep-deprived chefs scramble to prove their adaptability and rework their hardy lumberjack breakfast ingredients into elevated fine-dining dishes.

Chef Nini plans a steak and hoecake dish, chef Kevin prepares pork meatballs and potato puree and chef Stephanie sets out to serve steak frites. Chef Gabe aims to showcase his Florentine roots by serving an exceptional steak and chef Elia begins preparation for a filet for a creamy mushroom dish.

But before the chefs get too far into their preparations, Michael hits them where it hurts and cuts the gas line to their stations. Challenge 15 starts now. Its name? Cooking Without Gas.

Chaos ensues. While chef Nini had managed to sear her steak before losing gas, she slices it only to realize it’s inedible and raw inside. This realization forces her to get creative and throw her steak into the deep fryer.

Chef Elia scraps her plans for a filet mignon and puts her knife skills to work creating a minced steak tartare with red grapes and a latke.

The steak chef Gabe was marinating is raw. He starts cooking the steak in an electric oven before throwing it on an induction stove for a nice sear.

A delirious chef Stephanie cooks her steak in an electric oven and makes a funnel cake-inspired potato side in the deep fryer.

Determined to survive the elimination round, chef Kevin uses an induction burner to cook potatoes and throws his meatballs into the fryer.

Judge Brooke is overwhelmingly impressed with the chefs’ ability to adapt under pressure and present elevated dishes despite the unexpected variables thrown their way. She awards chef Gabe the Golden Knife for his hanger steak, sage mashed potatoes and pomme puree.

Unfortunately, Brooke finds chef Elia’s steak tartare well-made but underseasoned. She explains that the incorporation of red grapes accentuates the lack of salt in the dish, and for this reason, chef Elia is eliminated from the competition. The talented chef clocks out of the 24 in 24 kitchen after completing 15 challenges in 15 hours and 25 minutes.

Eight talented chefs remain in the 24 in 24 kitchen. And, unbeknownst to him, chef Bryan set the ball in motion for Shift 6 when he selected Jonathon, Kelsey and Kathleen for the break room during Challenge 14. His break room partners will now join his side and compete as a team against chefs Gabe, Kevin, Stephanie and Nini in Challenge 16: Soup & Sandwich.

There are advantages up for grabs for the winning team. The captain of the winning team gets the Golden Knife, every member of the winning team wins $2,400 and they earn a straight passage to Shift 7.

As the Golden Knife winner, chef Bryan is named captain of his team, and he is given the power to choose the captain of his opposing team. Each team captain jump-starts the challenge cook, and the rest of the chefs join in, one at a time, in seven-minute intervals. As each chef joins the kitchen, they are presented with additional ingredients or tools that their team must incorporate into the dish.

Bryan considers his competition and chooses chef Gabe as his opposing captain. Chef Nini acknowledges that this was a strategic choice for Bryan because she, Stephanie and Kevin gravitate toward Asian flavor profiles, while chef Gabe embraces Italian cuisine.

Chef Gabe balances his Italian roots and his teammates' favored flavors by choosing tom kha soup and a bánh mì meatball sandwich.

Chef Bryan sets out to prepare a chilled corn chowder with crab and a Cuban sandwich.

After seven minutes, it’s time for chefs Nini and Jonathon to join their captains. They are given a choice of three flavor profiles they must include in their recipes: sour, nutty or smoky. Chef Nini chooses to incorporate sour notes into the recipe. This works well with the recipes selected by chef Gabe, and chef Nini uses green apple and lime juice to up the sourness in the tom kha soup. Chef Jonathon follows suit and also selects sour. After talking with chef Bryan, they decide to swap the Cuban sandwich for a grinder to embrace the sour taste. Chef Jonathon pickles shallots, Fresno peppers and cucumbers to infuse a sour, vinegary flavor into the sandwich.

Next up? Chefs Kathleen and Stephanie are given the choice of three ingredients: preserved lemons, anchovies or unsweetened baking chocolate. Both chefs select anchovies. Team Gabe incorporates anchovies by creating a fish sauce, and Team Bryan uses them to add an anchovy aioli to their sandwich.

Finally, chefs Kevin and Kelsey round out the challenge and enter their station with a last-minute tool they must use to finish their dish. They choose between a spiralizer, an iSi gun (food whipper) or a vacuum sealer. Kevin scoops up a spiralizer for veg toppings on the bánh mì sandwich, and Kelsey grabs the iSi gun to aerate the soup.

Team Gabe fails to plate three dishes and faces judgment with a single serving of their dish split between the judges.

Chefs Brian Malarkey and Carlos Anthony are the Shift 6 judges, and the dynamic duo’s enthusiasm re-energizes the exhausted chefs as they enter the 24 in 24 kitchen.

After tasting, the judges agree that Team Bryan’s chilled corn chowder and grinder is the superior combo and send chefs Jonathon, Kelsey and Kathleen back to the break room to relax until Shift 7. As the Golden Knife holder, chef Bryan is asked to remain in the kitchen with the losing team for a special twist ahead of Challenge 17.

Chefs Gabe, Kevin, Stephanie and Nini must compete against each other in Challenge 17: Best of Three. Chef Bryan is tasked with splitting the four chefs into pairs before exiting for the break room. He feels the weight of the decision and ultimately chooses to have the chefs draw cards to determine their teammate. The judges laugh and claim he’s taking the easy way out by letting fate make the decision, but Bryan says, “I’m not taking the easy way out, I’m taking the diplomatic way out.”

Chefs Gabe and Kevin team up against chefs Nini and Stephanie for the Best of Three challenge. For this challenge, each duo has 30 minutes to create three hors d’oeuvres: one fried, one cheesy and one sweet. Each hors d’oeuvres needs to be plated separately. They will be judged head-to-head in three rounds, with the winner of each round earning a point. The first team to two points wins. While this challenge is not for elimination, the losing team will face elimination in the next shift.

The men divide and conquer. Kevin tackles the sweet and fried categories, while Gabe goes all out for their cheesy hors d’oeuvres. Kevin prepares fried Korean chicken wings and Korean bruschetta, while Gabe whips up an Italian-style oyster Rockefeller with gorgonzola dolce and spinach.

Despite their challenges as teammates in Challenge 16, chefs Nini and Stephanie put their heads together and find their rhythm as a duo. Chef Nini prepares a fried nori rice crisp and crab salad and a creamsicle for the fried and sweet hors d’oeuvres, while chef Stephanie makes a triple-cheese potato ball with Gouda, Brie and blue cheese.

Chefs Gabe and Kevin earn one point for their cheesy hors d’oeuvres, and chefs Nini and Stephanie earn a point for their fried nori plate. In the end, the ladies’ sweet creamsicle hors d’oeuvres beat out Kevin’s Korean bruschetta and earned them passage to the next shift without risk of elimination.

If chefs Gabe and Kevin can't bring the heat, they’ll have to leave the kitchen at the end of Challenge 18. Or will they?

For Challenge 18, chefs Gabe and Kevin are asked to showcase their risk-taking skills by preparing spicy street food. The catch? A third chef will also be competing in this elimination challenge. As the Golden Knife holder, chef Bryan must choose this third chef, and he can choose himself. But if the person he chooses comes in third, even if it is himself, that chef is eliminated, and chefs Gabe and Kevin are safe.

If the chef he chooses comes in first, they win $10,000 and an automatic spot in the finale. Even spicier? Both Gabe and Kevin will be eliminated. This is the biggest risk-reward presented in the 24 in 24 kitchen so far.

Chef Bryan is eager to showcase his risk-taking abilities and throws his apron in the ring to compete against Kevin and Gabe with his spiciest street food. He prepares twice-fried spicy chicken wings with pickled pepper sauce.

Chef Kevin combines his Korean roots with traditional Mexican flavors to serve up Korean carnitas tacos with pork marinated in gochujang and gochugaru for Eastern flavors and topped with fresh pico and salsa verde for added kick.

Chef Gabe serves a pollo fritto, an Italian fried chicken sandwich, topped with Calabrian sweet chili, fennel and green apple slaw, and pickled Fresno peppers.

No stranger to risk-taking, chef Andrew Zimmern makes the perfect judge for Shift 7. The four-time James Beard Award-winning host, chef and writer has eaten bizarre foods in more than 130 countries and enters the 24 in 24 kitchen ready to assess the competition.

While Andrew is impressed by all three dishes, he is especially pleased with Kevin’s carnitas tacos. He ranks Kevin first, Bryan second and Gabe third. He explains that chef Gabe’s pollo fritto is a perfect sandwich, but it lacks the heat necessary to edge out the competition in this particular challenge.

Chef Gabe leaves after completing 17 challenges in 19 hours and 52 minutes in the 24 in 24 kitchen.

What’s one way to make competing for 20 hours straight even more challenging for the remaining chefs? Throw a math riddle into the mix!

For Challenge 19, Michael asks the remaining chefs a trivia question. The chefs are instructed to write down their answer and also write down the number of minutes they are willing to bet on their answer. They must risk a minimum of one minute and a maximum of 10 minutes. They cannot risk zero minutes.

If the chefs answer correctly, they gain the amount of minutes they bet in the next challenge. If they are incorrect, they lose the number of minutes bet.

The question: There are four sticks of butter in a 1-pound box. If you combine six sticks with 2 cups of butter, how many ounces do you have?

The answer: 40 ounces.

Chefs Nini and Kelsey answer correctly and earn 10 additional minutes for their next challenge. Chefs Jonathon and Stephanie are also correct but only tack two additional minutes onto their time.

Chefs Kathleen and Bryan are incorrect and lose two minutes and Kevin, also incorrect, loses 10 minutes of his time — giving him only 10 minutes to prepare a Finale-Worthy Fish Dish.

Chefs are tasked with preparing a showstopping fish dish using a whole fish with minimal time on the clock. The chefs who survive this challenge will go on to the finale, but only five will make it there. This is a double-elimination challenge, sending two talented chefs packing their knives after 20-plus hours in the kitchen.

Chef Kelsey uses her 30 minutes to prepare an oil-poached black bass with sunchoke puree. Chef Nini maximizes her half-hour slot in the kitchen by preparing a seared Thai snapper with an avocado sauce.

With 22 minutes on the clock, chef Jonathon prepares halibut panang curry and chef Stephanie a grilled branzino with Thai-style sweet and sour sauce.

With 18 minutes, chef Bryan prepares sole in brown butter with zucchini broth and basil pistou, while chef Kathleen churns out her best fried trout.

Kevin spends 10 minutes showcasing his precise knife skills and flavors with a Kampachi crudo topped with fennel citrus salad and a mix of Fresno and jalapeño peppers for heat.

Andrew ranks each dish from one to seven from his favorite to least favorite. Before his ranking is revealed, he praises the competing chefs and says, “There is no bottom here, there are no bad dishes, everyone put their hearts on their plates.”

Chef Bryan earns the No. 1 fish dish and his place in the finale. Chefs Stephanie, Jonathon, Nini and Kevin earn the remaining four spots.

Chefs Kelsey and Kathleen are the bottom dishes. The talented chefs clock out of the 24 in 24 kitchen after completing 20 challenges in 20 hours and 20 minutes.

After completing 20 hours of nonstop competition, the five remaining chefs enter their eighth and final shift with a heavy helping of déjà vu.

The shift is designed to test the talented competitors’ abilities to elevate their dishes, and for Challenge 21: Speed Obstacle Course Redux, the chefs must complete their very first challenge for a second time. Back at the same table where their journey began, the chefs are tasked to whisk five egg whites by hand, tournée five potatoes and juice 5 ounces of fresh lemon juice.

The first chef who finishes the three stations earns the coveted Golden Knife and is given an advantage for the next challenge.

Although chef Stephanie moves through the stations quickly, chef Kevin proves once again to be the speediest chef in the 24 in 24 kitchen. Esther and Michael ask him to join them at the front of the room to learn about his advantage for the next challenge.

The final three challenges of the 24 in 24 competition task chefs to create elevated versions of meals we eat in a 24-hour period: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Chef Kevin is presented with a menu board with five proteins: beef, lamb, pork, chicken and shellfish.

As the Golden Knife holder, Kevin gets to assign the protein each chef must use for all three meals. From there, each chef can choose one of the three options listed below for their protein to use for any of their three meals.

Kevin chooses shellfish for himself, followed by beef for Jonathon, lamb for Nini, pork for Stephanie and chicken for Bryan.

Chef Kevin is given the choice between three culinary styles that every chef must use to prepare their first dish: modern, fusion or classic. He chooses classic, and everyone is off to the races!

For his classic shellfish breakfast, chef Kevin prepares a lobster eggs Benedict with herb béarnaise and sliced avocado.

Chef Nini puts her distaste for lamb aside and prepares her take on biscuits and lamb gravy with chive biscuits and black pepper gravy.

Chef Stephanie serves country-fried pork with eggs swimming in a citrus coffee sauce.

Chef Jonathon cooks up a luxurious steak and eggs with a hanger steak, an olive oil-fried egg and a Calabrian chili potato hash.

Finally, chef Bryan serves his rendition of chicken-fried chicken with sausage gravy.

Three familiar (and mega-talented) faces reenter the 24 in 24 kitchen to judge the final challenges: Antonia Lofaso, Graham Elliot and Jet Tila. After tasting the chef's classic breakfast fare creations, the trio awards Bryan the Golden Knife for his chicken-fried chicken. They name chefs Nini and Kevin as their bottom two dishes for this challenge and, ultimately, send Kevin home because his unsliced English muffin base led his Benedict to feel too bready. Chef Kevin clocks out after completing 22 challenges in 21 hours and 41 minutes.

The only things standing between the chefs and $75,000 are two hours, two dishes and each other. With Kevin gone, chefs Bryan, Stephanie, Nini and Jonathon battle it out in a double-elimination challenge.

As the Golden Knife wielder, chef Bryan is given the power to shuffle the protein deck ahead of Challenge 23: Elevated Lunch. He chooses to stick with the current proteins, much to chef Nini’s chagrin, and selects “fusion” as the cooking style for the next round.

The twists continue as the hosts reveal that this isn’t just a double elimination, it's also the last challenge to win the Golden Knife and bring it to the final cook-off.

For his elevated fusion lunch, chef Bryan serves a Caesar salad with chicken croutons wrapped in a daikon radish.

Chef Nini prepares an arayes with labneh and cucumber salad infused with Sichuan flavors.

Fusion flavors are chef Stephanie’s calling card. The talented chef transforms her pork chops into a pozole with masa noodles.

Chef Jonathon makes a surprising move and chooses the most luxe beef option available to him for his lunch dish, wagyu steak, in hopes it will earn him the Golden Knife and move him forward to choose a new protein ahead of the finale. He prepares a wagyu katsu sandwich with a Western slaw of napa cabbage and mayonnaise.

The judges are wowed by all the elevated dishes presented to them but ultimately choose Nini as the first chef to go home due to her lamb being undercooked. Stephanie's inconsistently cooked pork sends her home next. Despite their elimination, the talented women can be proud of their run in the 24 in 24 kitchen, as they completed 23 challenges in 23 hours.

Chef Jonathon’s wagyu katsu sandwich gamble pays off and earns him the Golden Knife heading into the finale — and 24th hour — of the competition.

Chefs Jonathon and Bryan prepare to battle it out with $75,000 on the line in Challenge 24: Elevated Modern Dinner.

As he predicted, Jonathon is given the massive advantage of choosing any of the proteins on the board to create his elevated dinner dish. He decides to leave ground beef in the dust and heads to his station with a gorgeous rack of lamb. Chef Bryan chooses to stick with his assigned protein, chicken, to showcase his ability to elevate the simplest ingredients.

Chef Jonathon uses his rack of lamb to prepare a modern take on surf and turf: lamb chops with uni, apricots and chanterelle mushrooms. He considers this the riskiest dish he’s prepared in the competition yet; uni is traditionally served raw, but Jonathon chooses to incorporate it into his chanterelle sauce. After tasting, he decides to make an herbaceous pine nut gremolata to balance the savory notes.

Chef Bryan prepares a roasted bluefoot chicken with parsnips and maitake mushrooms. The downside to choosing the bluefoot chicken, a high-quality chicken known for being very tender and juicy, is that chef Bryan must break down the chicken himself. That said, doing so showcases his exceptional technical skills and allows him to utilize the whole bird, which adds to the elevated aspect of this dish and brings a wealth of flavor to every bite. Along with his chicken, chef Bryan serves whipped parsnips and crisp parsnip skins to bring texture to the plate.

Jonathon heads to the judges’ table first. The trio is blown away by his modern surf and turf and finds his incorporation of uni successful in the dish. They called his lamb chops “perfect” before sending him back to his seat.

Chef Bryan’s chicken is met with equal enthusiasm. The judges celebrate his artistry and technique, and tip their hats to his soulful, flavorful dish.

In the end, the judges feel they are judging two perfect dishes. But which chef prepared an elevated modern dinner worthy of the $75,000 prize?