Our eight competing chefs meet the judges: Dakota Weiss, J. Kenji-Alt, and legendary head judge, Chef Morimoto. They’ll need to prove their mastery of fundamental sushi skills in the first challenge, because one chef will be eliminated.

Chef Morimoto turns up the heat with a spicy sushi challenge! The seven remaining chefs create decadent sushi rolls, then add heat to a Japanese style dish. But as the dishes get hotter, so does the competition, and one more chef goes home.

The six remaining chefs compete in a three-round ‘conveyor belt sushi tournament’. In the end, two chefs will battle it out to see who keeps their place in the competition.

Chef Morimoto challenges the five remaining chefs to make their own versions of on-the-go Japanese street food, and to “think like Morimoto,” while using Japanese flavors and sushi techniques to reinvent American classics. Only four chefs remain.

The final four chefs must prove their storytelling skills in the kitchen, creating a dessert featuring candy flavors reminiscent of their childhoods, and a 3-tiered seafood tower that tells their own chef’s story. Guest judge Shota Nakajima joins.