During the Signature Dish Challenge, Ava said it was happening and was ready. She revealed that she ran a meal prep business in the red kitchen but planned to use her Ava's Flava Chicken to wow Ramsay. She was the eighth person from the red team to have her dish judged by Ramsay and went up against Alex. She told Ramsay she came from Alaska, making her the first Alaskan-born contestant in the show's history. She made Ava's Flava Chicken, but it had undercooked rice and bland broccoli, which Ramsay noted as she called it Flava Chicken. She scored two points as a result, and the red team won the challenge 30-28. They were rewarded with dinner at Gordon Ramsay Steak 2.0 and had three previous winners joining them: Season 17 Michelle, Season 18 Ariel, and Sous Chef Christina.
The following day, Ava said she respected mixologists and alcohol but also did not want to intake the calories.[1] During the Alcohol Challenge, she asked Megan and Morgana for some space on her station as she wanted to impress Ramsay after getting a two on her signature dish. She said Alaskans were well known for their salmon but would be shamed if she screwed up. However, her bourbon pineapple reduction burned when she poured the alcohol in, and it smoked up her pan much to her dismay. Turning her element down, she hoped her salmon would cook all the way through. Her dish was not chosen as the Top Three of the red team as it was undercooked, and Brynn felt her dish was the worst of the group. She was called up by Brynn as the first of the red team's Bottom Three dishes. She presented her bourbon marinated grilled pineapple with soy Worcester salmon. It was criticized for looking knackered and having raw salmon. Ramsay reminded her of the irony of her raw salmon as he knew Alaska was well known for salmon. She was disappointed because she served raw salmon.
After tasting the dishes, Ramsay named Ava as the red team's nominee for having the worst dish, and she joined Matthew from the blue team. During her plea, she felt she had excellent time management and leadership skills that could be brought to managing a restaurant. Still, she thought she focused too much on the flavors and not on the meat. She was eliminated for serving raw salmon. She knew she had high expectations during her exit interview but knew she failed on the first two challenges. However, she thought that Matthew should have been eliminated instead for serving raw chicken. Ramsay gave no comment on her elimination, and she did not receive the coat hanging and portrait burning sequence.[2]
