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Ink Master season 9

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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.

Hosted byDave Navarro
JudgesChris Núñez
Oliver Peck
No. of contestants36
WinnersOld Town Ink
(Bubba Irwin and DJ Tambe)
Quick facts Hosted by, Judges ...
Ink Master: Shop Wars
Season 9
Hosted byDave Navarro
JudgesChris Núñez
Oliver Peck
No. of contestants36
WinnersOld Town Ink
(Bubba Irwin and DJ Tambe)
No. of episodes16
Release
Original networkSpike
Original releaseJune 6 (2017-06-06) –
September 26, 2017 (2017-09-26)
Season chronology
← Previous
Peck vs Nuñez
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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 of the veterans' shortcomings from the last time they competed.

This season saw the return of thirteen veterans; season 1 contestant Tommy Helm, season 2 contestant Lalo Yunda, season 3 contestants Yovan "E.S." Barraza and Richard "Made Rich" Parker, season 4 contestants Aaron "Bubba" Irwin and Josh "King Ruck" Glover, season 5 contestant Aaron "Aaron Is" Michalowski, season 5 and season 7 contestant James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke, season 6 contestants Katie McGowan and Matt O'Baugh, season 7 contestants Christian Buckingham and Picasso Dular, and season 8 contestant Anwon "Boneface" Johnson.

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.

More information Shop Name, Contestants ...
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
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Returning veterans

More information Contestants, Original Season ...
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
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Shop progress

  Indicates a Newcomer shop.   Indicates a Veteran shop.

More information Shop, Episode ...
Shop Episode
1 2[a] 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11[b] 12 13[c] 14 15[d] 16
Old Town Ink BTM3 HIGH HIGH WIN LOW WIN SAFE LOW 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 BTM3 TOP2 WIN SAFE ELIM Guest
Allegory Arts SAFE TOP3 SAFE BTM3 SAFE SAFE SAFE BTM3 BTM3 BTM3 WIN ELIM Guest
Artistic Skin Designs WIN WIN TOP2 SAFE SAFE SAFE BTM3 WIN HIGH BTM3 ELIM Guest
Classic Trilogy Tattoo SAFE SAFE SAFE SAFE BTM3 BTM3 LOW TOP2 HIGH ELIM Guest
Pinz & Needlez SAFE LOW WIN TOP2 BTM3 WIN SAFE SAFE ELIM Guest
Black Spade Tattoo LOW BTM3 BTM3 ELIM Guest
Boneface Ink Tattoo Shop HIGH 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
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  1. [a]
    Old Town Ink were among the top in the challenge, but were put in the bottom by the Jury of Peers.
  2. [b]
    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.
  3. [c]
    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.
  4. [d]
    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 was eliminated during the finale.
  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

More information No. overall, No. in season ...
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleOriginal release dateUS viewers
(millions)
1091"Fire & Ice"June 6, 2017 (2017-06-06)0.90[1]

  • Flash Challenge – Part 1: After the artists meet Dave, Peck and Nunez at Skylands Stadium, they go into their very first Flash Challenge where they had four hours to create an ice sculpture that represents their respective shop. But that of course is not the only Flash Challenge they faced.
  • Winner: Allegory Arts
  • Flash Challenge – Part 2: The rest of the shops, except for Allegory Arts, carve out their custom logo before molding it out of molten metal. Another shop will also be safe from elimination.
  • Winner: Unkindness Art
  • Elimination Tattoo: The shops drew one of the animals as their live reference. They will then tattoo their animal in the style they picked. Thicker Than Blood, however, took a different approach and drew their tattoo without incorporating the live snake.
  • Top Shops: Artistic Skin Designs and Black Anchor Collective
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Artistic Skin Designs
  • Bottom: Tri-Cities Tattoo, The Marked Society Tattoo and Thicker Than Blood
  • Eliminated: Thicker Than Blood
1102"Crossing the Line"June 13, 2017 (2017-06-13)0.77[2]

  • Returning Veteran: Bubba Irwin
  • Skill of the Week: Fundamentals
  • Flash Challenge: The shops had five hours to create an original design out of colored Post-it notes. Before the challenge began, Dave brought out Old Town Ink (Bubba Irwin and DJ Tambe), the first veteran shop that took over Thicker than Blood's spot in the competition. During the critique, Wes broke down due to not being at home for family reasons.
  • Winner: Old Town Ink
  • Elimination Tattoo: The shops put their fundamental skills to the test when they have to tattoo an illustrative blackwork design. Old Town Ink got sent to the bottom by the Jury of Peers because they used a Magnum needle as well as a Lining needle, but the judges decided to make them safe from being eliminated.
  • Top Shops: Allegory Arts, Old Town Ink and Artistic Skin Designs.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Artistic Skin Designs
  • Bottom: Old Town Ink, Tri-Cities Tattoo and The Marked Society Tattoo
  • Eliminated: The Marked Society Tattoo
1113"Unnatural Disasters"June 20, 2017 (2017-06-20)0.89[3]

  • Returning Veteran: Made Rich
  • Skill of the Week: Detail
  • Flash Challenge: The shops had five hours to turn one image into another with one artist working on one side while their partner worked on the other.
  • Winner: Unkindness Art
  • Elimination Tattoo: The shops must show detail in their natural disaster tattoo.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Pinz & Needlez
  • Bottom: Think Before You Ink, Black Anchor Collective and Tri-Cities Tattoo
  • Eliminated: Black Anchor Collective
1124"Lend Me Your Ear"June 27, 2017 (2017-06-27)0.89[4]

  • Returning Veterans: Lalo and Picasso
  • Skill of the Week: Technical Application
  • Flash Challenge: The shops had two hours to create identical micro ear tattoos. Since winning the last Elimination Tattoo, Pinz and Needles picked their canvas first while the rest of the canvases handled their skull picks.
  • Winner: Old Town Ink
  • Elimination Tattoo: The shops tattoo a pair of black and grey cherubs at the same time. Since the judges were divided in choosing the winner, it was clear that one individual from each shop were the standouts in this Elimination Tattoo.
  • Top Shops: Unkindness Art and Pinz & Needlez
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Unkindness Art
  • Bottom: Think Before You Ink, Tri-Cities Tattoo and Allegory Arts
  • Eliminated: Tri-Cities Tattoo
1135"War and Ink"July 11, 2017 (2017-07-11)0.89[5]

  • Returning Veterans: King Ruck and E.S.
  • Skill of the Week: Composition
  • Flash Challenge Inspired by Corona Extra, the shops had four hours to help give the canvas the moment they lived.
  • Winner: Artistic Skin Designs
  • Elimination Tattoo: The shops go to war with color realistic battle scenes. But the battle for survival arises near the end when Pinz And Needles' canvas second guessing the design of her tattoo while Classic Trilogy Tattoo's canvas passed out.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Old Town Ink
  • Bottom: Think Before You Ink, Classic Trilogy Tattoo and Pinz & Needlez
  • Eliminated: Think Before You Ink
1146"Get the Flock Outta Here"July 18, 2017 (2017-07-18)N/A

  • Returning Veteran: Boneface
  • Skill of the Week: Artistry
  • Flash Challenge: The shops had five hours to create a work of art by first drawing on a black inhesive board before using one of the colored velvet powder over their design.
  • Winner: Old Town Ink
  • Elimination Tattoo: Each shop must show their true artistry by doing a freehand tattoo. Each artist had three hours to draw the design on skin. Then, its respective partner will tattoo the drawn piece for six hours.
  • Top Shops: Unkindness Art and Pinz & Needlez
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Pinz & Needlez
  • Bottom: Black Spade Tattoo, House of Monkey Tattoo and Classic Trilogy Tattoo
  • Eliminated: House of Monkey Tattoo
1157"On the Bubble"July 25, 2017 (2017-07-25)N/A

  • Returning Veteran: Christian Buckingham
  • Skill of the Week: Ingenuity
  • Flash Challenge: The shops had five hours to create a design on a giant sheet of bubble wrap by carefully injecting ink into each bubble. During the critique, Thom of Classic Trilogy Tattoo called out Ulyss of Allegory Arts for using white out in the flash challenge, but it backfires on him.
  • Winner: Black Spade Tattoo
  • Elimination Tattoo: Each shop worked on a new school tattoo with one artist tattooing the first three hours and the other tattooing the last three hours.
  • Top Shops: Unkindness Art and Old Town Ink
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Old Town Ink
  • Bottom: Boneface Ink Tattoo Shop, Black Spade Tattoo and Artistic Skin Designs
  • Eliminated: Boneface Ink Tattoo Shop
1168"Masterpiece Mayhem"August 1, 2017 (2017-08-01)N/A

  • Returning Veterans: Matt O'Baugh and Katie McGowan
  • Skill of the Week: Consistency
  • Flash Challenge: An emotional flash challenge has the shops tattooing a replica of a little loved ones' condition onto its respective human canvas for three hours.
  • Winner: Unkindness Art
  • Elimination Tattoo: Matt and Katie's past comes back to haunt them as they and the remaining shops must to use consistency by tattooing a famous work of art.
  • Top Shops: Classic Trilogy Tattoo and Artistic Skin Designs
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Artistic Skin Designs
  • Bottom: Allegory Arts, Black Spade Tattoo and Unkindness Art
  • Eliminated: Black Spade Tattoo
1179"Pin-Up Panic Attack"August 8, 2017 (2017-08-08)N/A

  • Returning Veteran: Tommy Helm
  • Skill of the Week: Proportion/Perspectives
  • Flash Challenge: The shops had five hours to create a sculpture by adding more or less of their own plaster on to a canvas.
  • Winner: Black Cobra Tattoos
  • Elimination Tattoo: The shops tackle Tommy's least favorite design that exposed his weakness in proportion, a Pin-Up tattoo. The artist and its partner were each given 30 minutes to tattoo the same canvas. Peck did not co-judge due to medical emergency. During the elimination judging, Ulyss of Allegory Arts was forced to sit on a chair due to a panic attack during the elimination judging.
  • Top Shops: Basilica Tattoo and Black Cobra Tattoos
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Basilica Tattoo
  • Bottom: Empire State Studio, Allegory Arts and Pinz & Needlez
  • Eliminated: Pinz & Needlez
11810"Drill Baby, Drill"August 15, 2017 (2017-08-15)N/A

  • Guest Judge: Tommy Montoya
  • Returning Veterans: Cleen Rock One and Aaron Is
  • Skill of the Week: Precision
  • Flash Challenge: The shops had five hours to create a design by drilling different holes onto a wooden canvas. Tommy Montoya filled in for Oliver as the third judge for the flash challenge.
  • Winner: Black Cobra Tattoos
  • Elimination Tattoo: The shops get to work tattooing matching portraits on two different canvases. In the critique, Oliver Peck came back while Tommy became the guest judge for the elimination tattoo, and revealed that he had a heart attack which explains his absence from the last episode and the flash challenge.
  • Top Shops: Golden Skull Tattoo and Empire State Studio
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Golden Skull Tattoo
  • Bottom: Allegory Arts, Classic Trilogy Tattoo and Artistic Skin Designs
  • Eliminated: Classic Trilogy Tattoo
11911"Grim Inker"August 22, 2017 (2017-08-22)N/A

  • Skill of the Week: Adaptability
  • Elimination Tattoo: The final eight shops fight for survival as four shops must work together to tattoo the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse on the human canvas at the same time. However, only one artist from each shop will do the tattooing. The first team consisted of Tommy Helm from Empire State Tattoo, Erin Chance from Unkindness Art, Ulyss Blair from Allegory Arts and Matt O'Baugh from Black Cobra Tattoos while Noelin Wheeler from Basilica Tattoo, Cleen Rock One from Golden Skull Tattoo, DJ Tambe from Old Town Ink and April Nicole from Artistic Skin Designs round out the second team.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Empire State Studio, Black Cobra Tattoos, Allegory Arts and Unkindness Art
  • Face Off Tattoo: Golden Skull Tattoo, Basilica Tattoo, Old Town Ink and Artistic Skin Designs have to duke it out. This time, the artist who didn't participate in the elimination tattoo must use the adaptability to tattoo a free handed design.
  • Eliminated: Artistic Skin Designs
12012"Pit Fall"August 29, 2017 (2017-08-29)N/A

  • Skill of the Week: Placement
  • Elimination Tattoo: The final seven shop deal with armpit tattoos by creating two six-hour coordinating pieces with one artist from each shop tattooing the left armpit and the other tattooing the right armpit the next day. In addition, Peck and Nuñez assigned the human canvases. For the second armpit tattoo, each shop had to switch canvases and finish another's shops tattoo, thus creating a head-to-head comparison.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Golden Skull Tattoo
  • Bottom: Allegory Arts, Unkindness Art, Old Town Ink
  • Eliminated: Allegory Arts
12113"Sell Out"September 5, 2017 (2017-09-05)N/A

  • Skill of the Week: Self Promotion
  • Elimination Tattoo - Part 1: The power was put in the hands of the human canvases as each canvas had 5 minutes to interview each shop about a tattoo they would like to get. After the interviews, the canvases drew skulls to determine a picking order.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Basilica Tattoo
  • Elimination Tattoo - Part 2: The human canvases picked a random number on the bottom of the skull. They will then pick one of the tattoos that was done by its respective shop in part one of the elimination tattoo. Black Cobra Tattoos was put up for elimination after they were not chosen by neither canvas.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Unkindness Art
  • Face Off Tattoo: Black Cobra Tattoo, Empire State Studio, Golden Skull Tattoo and Old Town Ink must tag team their respective partner to tattoo the style and subject that were each chosen by the winners of the elimination tattoo. Basilica picked American Traditional while Unkindness Art wants them to incorporate the style into a snake because of the show featured several artists screwing up the design in the previous seasons.
  • Eliminated: Empire State Studio
12214"Casting the First Stone"September 12, 2017 (2017-09-12)N/A

  • Skill of the Week: Cohesion
  • Flash Challenge: The shops had six hours to paint a nude human canvas onto a two dimensional canvas that looks seamless.
  • Winner: Golden Skull Tattoo
  • Elimination Tattoo: Final five shops deal with Asian deities in this tag team elimination tattoo.
  • Top Shops: Old Town Ink and Unkindness Art
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Old Town Ink
  • Bottom: Golden Skull Tattoo, Balisica Tattoo and Black Cobra Tattoos
  • Eliminated: Golden Skull Tattoo
12315"Marathon to the Finale"September 19, 2017 (2017-09-19)N/A

  • Tattoo Marathon - Round 1: The final four shops compete in a two-part tattoo marathon that will determine who goes to the live finale.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Black Cobra Tattoos and Basilica Tattoo
  • Tattoo Marathon - Round 2: Old Town Ink and Unkindness Art fight for the last remaining spot in the Ink Master Live Finale.
  • Best Tattoo of the Day: Old Town Ink
  • Eliminated: Unkindness Art
12416"Shop Wars Finale"September 26, 2017 (2017-09-26)N/A

  • Finale - Round 1: Twitter users voted Black Cobra Tattoos into the final two, based on the live 6-hour tattoo. Judges voted Old Town Ink into the final two based on the 35-hour master canvas black-and-gray tattoo.
  • Finale - Round 2: Judges voted Old Town Ink as Master Shop based on the 35-hour master canvas color tattoo.
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