Ink Master (season 9)
Ink Master: Shop Wars is the ninth season of the tattoo reality competition Ink Master that premiered on June 6, 2017, on Spike with 16 episodes. The show is hosted and judged by Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, with accomplished tattoo artists Chris Núñez and Oliver Peck serving as series regular judges. The winning shop received $200,000, a feature in Inked magazine, the title of Ink Master, and the title of Master Shop.
Ink Master | |
---|---|
Season 9 | |
Hosted by | Dave Navarro |
Judges | Chris Núñez Oliver Peck |
No. of contestants | 36 |
Winner | Old Town Ink (Aaron Irwin and DJ Tambe) |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of episodes | 16 |
Release | |
Original network | Spike |
Original release | June 6 – September 26, 2017 |
Season chronology |
The premise of this season was having teams of two sorted by their tattoo shops going head-to-head in a tag team elimination-style competition. This season features nine rookie shops battling nine veteran shops each week while tackling a skill that exposes each veterans' shortcoming from the last time they competed.
This season saw the return of thirteen veterans; season one contestant Tommy Helm, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up, season two contestant Lalo Yunda, who originally finished the competition in 10th place, season three contestants Yovan "E.S." Barraza and Richard "Made Rich" Parker, who originally finished the competition in 9th and 10th place respectively, season four contestants Aaron "Bubba" Irwin and Josh "King Ruck" Glover, who originally finished the competition in 11th/12th and 9th/10th place respectively, season five contestant Aaron "Aaron Is" Michalowski, who originally finished the competition in 6th place, season five and season seven contestant James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke, who originally finished both competitions as the runner-up, season six contestants Katie McGowan and Matt O'Baugh, who originally finished the competition in 8th and 3rd place respectively, season seven contestants Christian Buckingham and Picasso Dular, who originally finished the competition in 3rd and 13th place respectively, and season eight contestant Anwon "Boneface" Johnson, who originally finished the competition in 7th place.
The winners of the ninth season of Ink Master were Old Town Ink (Aaron "Bubba" Irwin and DJ Tambe), with Black Cobra Tattoos (Katie McGowan and Matt O'Baugh) being the runners-up.
Judging and ranking
Judging Panel
The judging panel is a table of three or more primary judges. The judges make their final decision by voting to see who had best tattoo of the day, who's going home and who wins the competition.
Jury of Peers
The shops critique each other's work to see who had the worst tattoo of the day that will send one of them to the bottom.
Contestants
The competition featured a total of 36 contestants who competed in teams of two (18 teams total). Each team acted as one throughout the competition, winning together, and losing together.
Shop names, contestant names, and cities stated are at time of filming.
Shop Name | Contestants | Years of
experience |
Hometown | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|
Old Town Ink | DJ Tambe | 20 | Scottsdale, Arizona | Winners |
Aaron "Bubba" Irwin | 10 | |||
Black Cobra Tattoos | Katie McGowan | 7 | Sherwood, Arkansas | Runners-up |
Matt O'Baugh | 16 | |||
Basilica Tattoo | Christian Buckingham | 13 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 3rd place |
Noelin Wheeler | 21 | |||
Unkindness Art | Erin Chance | 10 | Richmond, Virginia | 4th place |
Jerrett "Doom Kitten" Querubin | 7 | |||
Golden Skull Tattoo | Aaron "Aaron Is" Michalowski | 19 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 5th place |
James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke | 21 | |||
Empire State Studio | Tommy Helm | ? | Amityville, New York | 6th place |
Marvin Silva | 13 | |||
Allegory Arts | Ulyss Blair | 12 | Florence, Alabama | 7th place |
Eva Huber | 14 | |||
Artistic Skin Designs | April Nicole | 6 | Indianapolis, Indiana | 8th place |
Dane Smith | 7 | |||
Classic Trilogy Tattoo | Thom Bulman | 10 | Mattydale, New York | 9th place |
Derek Zielinski | 12 | |||
Pinz & Needlez | Jessy Knuckles | 6 | Edgewood, Maryland | 10th place |
Allisin Riot | 4 | |||
Black Spade Tattoo | Yovan "E.S." Barraza | 20 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 11th place |
Josh "King Ruck" Glover | 9 | |||
Boneface Ink Tattoo Shop | Brandon "Hobo Ink" Allen | ? | Pensacola, Florida | 12th place |
Anwon "Boneface" Johnson | 18 | |||
House of Monkey Tattoo | Picasso Dular | 17 | Brooklyn, New York | 13th place |
Lalo Yunda | 25 | |||
Think Before You Ink | Richard "Made Rich" Parker | 9 | Queens, New York | 14th place |
Derrick "Dtatstar" Verley | ? | |||
Tri-Cities Tattoo | Danger Dave | 8 | Atlanta, Georgia | 15th place |
Chavonna "Bang" Rhodes | 4 | |||
Black Anchor Collective | Carlos Rojas | 15 | Hesperia, California | 16th place |
Aric Taylor | 26 | |||
The Marked Society Tattoo | Wes Hogan | 17 | McDonough, Georgia | 17th place |
Mike P | 5 | |||
Thicker Than Blood | Jhon Campuzano | 8 | White Plains, New York | 18th place |
Babiery Hernandez | 5 |
Returning veterans
Contestants | Original Season | Original Placement |
---|---|---|
Yovan "E.S." Barraza | Season 3 | 9th place |
Christian Buckingham | Season 7 | 3rd place |
Picasso Dular | Season 7 | 13th place |
Josh "King Ruck" Glover | Season 4 | 9th/10th place |
Tommy Helm | Season 1 | Runner-up |
Aaron "Bubba" Irwin | Season 4 | 11th/12th place |
Anwon "Boneface" Johnson | Season 8 | 7th place |
Katie McGowan | Season 6 | 8th place |
Aaron "Aaron Is" Michalowski | Season 5 | 6th place |
Matt O'Baugh | Season 6 | 3rd place |
Richard "Made Rich" Parker | Season 3 | 10th place |
James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke | Season 5 | Runner-up |
Season 7 | Runner-up | |
Lalo Yunda | Season 2 | 10th place |
Shop progress
Indicates a Newcomer shop. Indicates a Veteran shop.
Shop | Episode | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2[lower-alpha 1] | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11[lower-alpha 2] | 12 | 13[lower-alpha 3] | 14 | 15[lower-alpha 4] | 16 | ||
Old Town Ink | BTM3 | HIGH | HIGH | WIN | LOW | WIN | SAFE | BTM4 | HIGH | BTM4 | BTM3 | BTM4 | WIN | ADV | Winner | ||
Black Cobra Tattoos | HIGH | TOP2 | SAFE | WIN | TOP2 | BTM4 | BTM3 | ADV | Runner-up | ||||||||
Basilica Tattoo | SAFE | SAFE | WIN | SAFE | BTM4 | HIGH | WIN | BTM3 | ADV | Eliminated | |||||||
Unkindness Art | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | WIN | SAFE | TOP2 | TOP2 | BTM3 | SAFE | LOW | WIN | BTM3 | WIN | TOP2 | ELIM | Guest | |
Golden Skull Tattoo | WIN | BTM4 | WIN | BTM4 | ELIM | Guest | |||||||||||
Empire State Studio | BTM4 | TOP2 | WIN | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | |||||||||||
Allegory Arts | SAFE | TOP3 | SAFE | BTM3 | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | BTM3 | BTM4 | BTM3 | WIN | ELIM | Guest | ||||
Artistic Skin Designs | WIN | WIN | TOP2 | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | BTM4 | WIN | HIGH | BTM3 | ELIM | Guest | |||||
Classic Trilogy Tattoo | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | SAFE | BTM3 | BTM3 | BTM4 | TOP2 | HIGH | ELIM | Guest | ||||||
Pinz & Needlez | SAFE | LOW | WIN | TOP2 | BTM3 | WIN | SAFE | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | |||||||
Black Spade Tattoo | LOW | BTM3 | BTM4 | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||
Boneface Ink Tattoo Shop | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||||
House of Monkey Tattoo | SAFE | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | |||||||||||||
Think Before You Ink | BTM3 | BTM3 | ELIM | Guest | |||||||||||||
Tri-Cities Tattoo | BTM3 | BTM3 | BTM3 | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||
Black Anchor Collective | TOP2 | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | |||||||||||||
The Marked Society Tattoo | BTM3 | ELIM | Guest | ||||||||||||||
Thicker Than Blood | ELIM | Guest |
- Old Town Ink were among the top in the challenge, but were put in the bottom by the Jury of Peers.
- Basilica Tattoo, Golden Skull Tattoo and Old Town Ink defeated Artistic Skin Designs in the Tag-team Face-Off challenge to determine which shop would stay in the competition.
- Basilica Tattoo won Best Tattoo of the Day in the first round, while Unkindness Art won Best Tattoo of the Day in the second round.
- Basilica Tattoo and Black Cobra Tattoos won the first round, and Old Town Ink won the second round in the Tattoo Marathon to advance to the finale.
- The shop won Ink Master.
- The shop was the runner-up.
- The shop finished third in the competition.
- The shop advanced to the finale
- The shop was exempt from the first elimination.
- The shop won Best Tattoo of the Day.
- The shop was among the top.
- The shop received positive critiques.
- The shop received negative critiques.
- The shop was in the bottom.
- The shop was put in the bottom by the Jury of Peers
- The shop was eliminated from the competition.
- The shop was put in the bottom by the Jury of Peers and were eliminated from the competition.
- The shop returned as a guest for that episode.
Episodes
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | US viewers (millions) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
109 | 1 | "Fire & Ice" | June 6, 2017 | 0.90[1] | |
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110 | 2 | "Crossing the Line" | June 13, 2017 | 0.77[2] | |
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111 | 3 | "Unnatural Disasters" | June 20, 2017 | 0.89[3] | |
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112 | 4 | "Lend Me Your Ear" | June 27, 2017 | 0.89[4] | |
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113 | 5 | "War and Ink" | July 11, 2017 | 0.89[5] | |
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114 | 6 | "Get the Flock Outta Here" | July 18, 2017 | N/A | |
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115 | 7 | "On the Bubble" | July 25, 2017 | N/A | |
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116 | 8 | "Masterpiece Mayhem" | August 1, 2017 | N/A | |
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117 | 9 | "Pin-Up Panic Attack" | August 8, 2017 | N/A | |
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118 | 10 | "Drill Baby, Drill" | August 15, 2017 | N/A | |
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119 | 11 | "Grim Inker" | August 22, 2017 | N/A | |
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120 | 12 | "Pit Fall" | August 29, 2017 | N/A | |
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121 | 13 | "Sell Out" | September 5, 2017 | N/A | |
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122 | 14 | "Casting the First Stone" | September 12, 2017 | N/A | |
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123 | 15 | "Marathon to the Finale" | September 19, 2017 | N/A | |
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124 | 16 | "Shop Wars Finale" | September 26, 2017 | N/A | |
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References
- Mitch Metcalf (June 7, 2017). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Update: 6.6.2017". Showbuzzdaily. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
- Mitch Metcalf (June 14, 2017). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Update: 6.13.2017". Showbuzzdaily. Archived from the original on June 14, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
- Mitch Metcalf (June 21, 2017). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Update: 6.20.2017". Showbuzzdaily. Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
- Mitch Metcalf (June 28, 2017). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Update: 6.27.2017". Showbuzzdaily. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
- Mitch Metcalf (July 11, 2017). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Update: 7.11.2017". Showbuzzdaily. Archived from the original on July 13, 2017. Retrieved September 1, 2017.